Not the Care-bear stare you remember...
"And what?"
25 Dec 2k4
Last night while I was driving home from work, I decided to fill up the gas tank of my trusty automobile. I stopped at the Gate station located on my usual route when I noticed an animal in the distance walking in a funny way. It was a stray cat, or a cat abandoned by a neglectful owner -or- a kitten of a cat whose owner did not spay or neuter their pet. It was limping on one of its hind legs, + then bowed its head towards some trash on the road to see if it was someting edible. It was such a sad sight to see. It made me really feel for this animal.
Cats are normally very swift + graceful in motion, but not this one. I mean, I'm not much of a cat person, but I generally do not like to see animals in harm, especially those affected by the traffic [i.e. wild or domestic animals wounded or killed by cars]. It's not enough that it was freezing cold outside, but the cat was starving + hobbling along on 3 legs with no shelter or care. If I had something to give it to eat just to nourish it for the next few hours that would have been good. I was in no way going to call the humane shelter to come pick it up because A) they most likely would not spend their money + resources to fix the cat's hurt leg + B) they would only keep the cat for a number of days before they put it to sleep, unless someone adopts it. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe it was better off on the streets? Who knows. I just wish I had some food to give to the cat.
Things like that make me sad. I know that you can help stray animals + try to keep them off the streets by supporting the Humane Society's efforts by donating money to it, but what can you really do for that particular cat limping along right in front of you?
posted by sissyphus at 1:36 PM
Feeed me, Seymour. { 
1 Comments:
Hey Kathy,
I just noticed this site from your email. I've volunteered for a couple of shelters in Chicago and from my experience it is best to drop them off at a shelter, even at an animal hospital. Mark's friend's wife works at an animal hospital and sometimes people will drop them off and usually the animal hospital workers are animal lovers and will feel bad for them and take them in. This friend's wife ended up with 5 animals that people have dropped off that were found in crappy situations. As for shelters, I worked at one where someone left a kitten with a broken hip that was barely alive on the doorstep. They felt bad for it and has since then recovered and visits schools and hospitals. It ended up being best buds with this other cat that was found in a dumpster. The dumpster cat typically hated other cats but once it saw this little kitten, it started licking it. I know these stories sound too much like lovey dovey hallmark specials but I believe it's always better than their current situation. Yes some shelters do put animals to sleep based on adoptability but it's not after just a short time. Also if an animal is in pain, they will put it down rather living that way miserable. There are many shelters (well in chicago at least) that take in animals that are "special needs" animals that will never put the animal down.I even volunteered for shelters in Jacksonville that weren't so quick to put them down. Many websites will let you know what shelters are no-kill shelters or where you can drop off animals that need help (Petfinder.org.) It does take work and research to help these animals but I always feel it's worth the effort. My sister Aileen found a bird that was being attacked by dogs and lay in shock and was able to find a bird sanctuary to drop it off. My last workplace had a baby bat that came in during a snowstorm that looked like it was ready to die. I spent an amount of time looking and calling for places that could help it. I found "bat people" online nearby that gave me advice on it -like giving it water and stuff which caused it to get back on it's feet and fly away by the time the snowstorm was over. I was never a bat person and still get scared of the big ones but seeing the little guy trying to crawl on its belly really made me want to make a difference instead of writing it off. Yes shelters need money and donations constantly but even if you register on things like igive.com, it donates to your charity of choice for shopping at certain online stores from ebay to petsmart.com. I am writting to inform people that anytime you can help animals, please do. Both of my cats are shelter animals that came from shelters that need people to help and donate. If anyone reading sees an animal that needs help please drop it off somewhere that can help it. It is always a much better feeling to feel like you've done something to help an animal's life then hoping it will get better on its own. Every bit helps.
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