Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Adopt a Cat—or Two—During Adopt-a-Cat-Month!

Eight black cats!
Eight black cats!

“Cats are like potato chips, it’s hard to have just one.”

I liked that phrase from a friend’s refrigerator magnet years ago so much that I designed a handpainted sign with it. And it still makes me laugh, and it’s still true—especially of me. I’ve rescued and fostered since the 1980s and lived with anywhere from five cats to…well, it all depended on how many rescues came in with kittens, and I always seemed to have a permanent household of nine. But even if you don’t rescue it’s easy to live with more than one cat, and it’s better for each cat’s physical and emotional health.

Statistics from an American Pet Products Association National Pet Owners Survey noted that more households have dogs, but more cats are owned as pets than any other pet—86 million cats as opposed to 78 million dogs—so plenty of people agree with having more than one cat.

Unfortunately, there always seems to be a big supply of cats to fill the need, and at this time of year more cats than anyone needs. Right now, in the middle of “kitten season” when rescues and shelters are overflowing with unexpected and unintended litters of kittens, it’s time to help take the burden off rescuers and help get more cats into more homes, hence the celebration of “Adopt-a-Cat-Month”. Founded by the American Humane Association (AHA) and this year is American Humane’s 44th annual Adopt-a-Cat Month®.

Veterinarians, shelters and rescues all over the country are encouraged to host and promote adoption events focused on finding loving, permanent homes for cats and promoting the proper care of cats.

So consider adopting

six cats on bed
All six of my cats at the time on the bed, June 2007.

But this doesn’t mean you should walk in and load up on cats. American Humane provides a checklist for adopting a cat for yourself, a member of your family, especially a child, or for another person as a gift.

  1. If you’re thinking about adopting a cat, consider taking home two.
  2. Find a cat whose personality complements yours.
  3. Pick out a veterinarian ahead of time and schedule a visit within the first few days following the adoption.
  4. Make sure everyone in the house is prepared to have a cat before it comes home.
  5. Budget for the short- and long-term costs of a cat.
  6. Stock up on supplies before the cat arrives.
  7. Cat-proof your home.
  8. Go slowly when introducing your cat to new friends and family.
  9. Be sure to include your new pet in your family’s emergency plan.
  10. If you’re considering giving a cat as a gift, make sure the recipient is an active participant in the adoption process.

Kittens or adults, special needs or small rescue?

two calico cats in window
Peaches and Cream at their first home.

So if you and your family are ready to adopt your new feline friend or friends, you may be thinking of a couple of cute and playful kittens because shelters are packed full with kittens right now, and that would certainly help reduce the burden on the shelter and increase adoption chances for other pets in the shelter.

Look at Peaches and Cream, above—could you pass up two cats who were so beautiful, even though they were 15 years old? Apparently I couldn’t. Many potential adopters are afraid of the pain of loss when considering pets in their teens and I’ll be the first to admit that losing a cat hurts worse than most things in life, and we did lose Cream after ten months. But Peaches lived to be 20, and she and I savored every day of those five years, and given the choice I would not have missed a moment of our time for any loss.

Consider the adult cats or even the senior kitties in the shelter, with no training needed, ready to come home with you and fit right in. Shelter workers have always noticed that kittens nearly always get adopted while more seasoned, friendly cats sit and wait—and are often euthanized  to make space for more kittens. The older a cat is, the less likely it is to be adopted and sadly they’ve already loved and lost a human family. Just as much as you want a kitty to love,  they want another chance to love a human.

Don’t forget to check with the smaller rescues who have often pulled cats from shelters who needed special care, or rescued cats and kittens right off the street, often at their own out-of-pocket expense. Adopting a cat from a smaller rescue makes a huge difference to organizations like Pittsburgh CAT.

Can’t adopt? Foster!

Sienna in the cat book library.
Sienna in the cat book library.

If you don’t really want another permanent feline member of your household but have the time and space, offer to foster a mother cat and kittens or an orphaned litter of kittens that’s already in the care of your shelter or a local rescue—they can never have enough volunteers to do this, and it’s the little family’s best chance for a healthy life and adoption after the kittens are weaned.

If you’re not up to feeding kittens or helping a momcat, offer to foster an adult cat or two to open up cage space during this annual parade of mothers and kittens—older cats are often overlooked at this time and cute kittens are adopted instead of the seasoned professional cat. Giving an older cat a temporary home during the busiest season may actually save its life. And black cats are the last ones adopted, partly just because tabbies and calicoes catch our eye more quickly. Take home a black cat and work on taking some stunning photos to help its chance for adoption.

Fostering also helps other cats in shelters who are traumatized by the atmosphere and need to calm down, those who have been there a while and need a cage break, or cats who are ill and need a greater level of care than the shelter can offer. When it’s all done, you can speak for the personality of that cat and know that cats who were fostered have a better chance at adoption from a shelter.

Can’t adopt or foster? Donate or volunteer.

If you have no room for another cat, you can volunteer at a shelter or with a rescue, or donate food or formula or just cash—raising kittens is expensive, even for a large shelter. You can also check for your shelter’s or rescue’s “wish list” of goods and services they’d love to have donated, often including things like office furniture or electronics you may have and not need. In any case, you will save lives, and make a huge difference at a time when it’s needed most.

Here is Pittsburgh C.A.T.’s Wish List:

  • Donate Amazon gift cards to [email protected]. Because our cats are fostered in homes all around the Pittsburgh area, gift cards enable us to send supplies directly to fosters!
  • You can also buy supplies through our Amazon wishlist: http://a.co/4kiWP4g
  • Or donate cash through Paypal ([email protected]) or Venmo (Pittsburghcat).

And don’t forget to spay and neuter, and encourage others too!

One of the reasons there are so many cats and kittens is that people don’t spay or neuter their cats before they are ready to reproduce, which can happen surprisingly early, as early as four months of age if the season is right. Many shelters practice pediatric spay and neuter where kittens only need to be at least two months and weigh at least two pounds for the surgery and they are not even available for adoption until they are “fixed”.

Not only does this eliminate the need to worry about catching your cat if it goes into heat or starts spraying, it also eliminates the chance of common reproductive diseases and cancers as well as reduces the chances of feline mammary cancer to nearly nothing. Spaying later has much less effect, or none at all depending on the age of the cat. If your cat is already spayed or neutered, sponsor the surgery for another cat.

So this month, let’s get cats and kittens into forever homes!


On Mondays I feature articles featuring Adoptable Cats and TNR.


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Cats are like potato chips…

“Cats Are Like Potato Chips” is my design and stenciled hand-lettered by me in acrylic paint on weathered wood reclaimed from a neighbor’s old stockade fence. I create each sign individually and the wood surface varies so each sign is unique. This sign measures 10″ wide x 3.5″ tall and has a sawtooth hanger on the back. Read more and purchase.



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Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

 
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

2 thoughts on “Adopt a Cat—or Two—During Adopt-a-Cat-Month!

  • This morning, watching Manny and Chili Bruce climb into the open window together, just made me so happy! Two black cats; what a marvel. We will always adopt in twos now. Black cats rule!

    Reply
    • It really is extra special to watch two cats interact with each other, especially like siblings or deeply bonded cats do. Some days I don’t get much done here, I’ll admit…

      Reply

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