Tomorrow is National Cat Day. What better way to celebrate it than by helping a shelter cat find a Purrmanent Home.
If not up for adopting a cat, a person could begin by adopting a dog.
Seriously? Dogs require more care than cats, so some people feel that living with a cat is practice for living with a dog. Dogs are, however, easier to train and communicate with than cats are, as species. (This is not to deny that a few members of each species are functionally unteachable...but most humans can think of a co-worker or an in-law who is also functionally unteachable.)
Many people live with both cats and dogs. The most interesting people, I find, attract odd mixes of tame and wild animal companions. I may be biased. At different times the residents of the Cat Sanctuary have included cats, dogs, horses, cows, goats, chickens, raccoons, possums, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, flying squirrels, one snake and one pair of cardinals and one pair of wrens at any given time, wasps, mantids, terrapins, and a parakeet, all of whom had names and were recognized as individuals and interacted with humans to some extent.
The family currently includes Queen Cat Serena, her grandkitten Drudge, their pet rescue cats Wild Rose and Wild Thyme, Dare Possum, Jimmy Skunk, the Great Snake Gulegi, Johnny and Jenny Wren, and Mr. and Mrs. Murrieta Cardinal. (Is it the same skunk we had last year? I don't know. Last year's Jimmy Skunk was missing for a long time but it's possible that he simply found more ground-nesting wasps to eat somewhere else. I think it may well have been the same snake for more than fifty years. The cardinals have been a dynasty; they began with Mr. and Mrs. Frito Bandito and some others have been named after historical bandits.)
As always, these Petfinder photo contest winners are for sharing. The more people see a homeless cat's picture, the better the cat's chances of being adopted--or, if someone is looking for it, of finding its original human companions. And no, of course you're not limited to my selection. Especially if you live in the West or Midwest, you're welcome to visit Petfinder and pick your own favorite photos. Petfinder encourages this and may even offer suggested text for posting a Petfinder picture to social media.
Today, in honor of correspondent Beth Ann Chiles' gorgeous fluffy Siberians, we consider long-haired cats and dogs. Usually this web site sticks to short-haired cats, but usually shelters get long-haired cats too.
Zipcode 10101: Skye from Texas by way of Ridgefield
His temperament has worked against him. Regular readers may remember an article I wrote years ago about the peculiar temperament of some "diluted red" cats--cats with that lovely pale coral color in their coats. They really want to be pets, and very devoted, possessive, even clingy pets too. They seem to distrust their own longing to purr and cuddle, though, at first, and act standoffish, unfriendly, even mean. The first time they're picked up, as tiny harmless kittens, they may bite. "Rescuers" are likely to consider them "unadoptable" and kill them for this reason...but if you let them back away, glare, hiss, and spit for a few days they'll soon want to sit on your knee. Shelter staff think Skye has this kind of purrsonality. He is not recommended to families with small children, though he's cool with other cats and dogs. Someone in the family needs to be very fond of cats and not already owned by one.
Zipcode 20202: Daisy from Vienna
It's not a very informative web page. There are a young mother cat, tortoiseshell, and four kittens, three different shades of gray tabby and one white, in the same shelter. They're all thought to be part Maine Coon so who knows where the kittens will stop growing. Maine Coon cats are similar to Norwegian Forest cats in some ways: large, long-haired, often described as intelligent and loyal pets. A healthy weight of 15 pounds, 50% more than the average American Shorthair, is typical; our cats were deliberately bred down from their wild ancestors and sometimes these breeds are throwbacks to the ancestral size, maturing over five years (rather than two) to a healthy weight of 30 pounds. As kittens they're just typical scamperbeasts. This picture appealed most to me but it's worth checking out the rest of the family. If not already living with a kitten you'll want to adopt one of them anyway, so that Daisy will have someone of her own age to play with.
Zipcode 30303: Cartman from Decatur
What a gorgeous mini-lion! Unfortunately Cartman may not be easy to make a pet of. He's eleven years old. He was rescued from a shelter by a human who then became ill and had to send him back. He's very dissatisfied with this situation and, though in a foster home with a nice bed to hide under, he is reportedly still hiding under the bed. If you want to adopt this handsome curmudgeon, expect a bond to form slowly.
Zipcode 10101: Lee Ann from Houston via NYC
Her web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/leeann-78886573/ny/new-york/fosterdochouston-dog-rescue-tx2671/
Lee Ann is thought to be part Samoyed, a sled dog breed, so she might be happier in a place that gets snow...especially if she doesn't have to be in the hot city in summer. She has not been trained. She is described as a shy, quiet dog who warms up to people gradually. Once she decides she likes a person, then she likes being talked to and petted. Evildoers wouldn't notice her sweet nature if they saw her running beside you. She will expect and need serious amounts of running, and of food. On her web page you can see that she stands about as tall as her foster human squats.
Zipcode 20202: Bark Twain from Memphis via Alexandria
His web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/bark-twain-78595245/va/alexandria/mercer-animal-rescue-ms166/
So far as can be determined Bark Twain is just another beautiful, lovable, goodnatured Australian Shepherd who landed in a shelter because some lazy human couldn't keep up with him. Though actually bred to be lovable pets more than to herd sheep, Aussies do like to have a job and they like a good brisk run to keep their digestion regular, every few hours, including at night. If you need someone who will scold you, plead with you, take you by the hand and drag you, or even literally nip at you and herd you, out for a walk or a jog, hire adopt an Aussie. If you're not going to take the dog out when it plainly says it needs to go ou, don't kid yourself.
Zipcode 30303: Falco from Roswell
His web page: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/falco-77676816/ga/roswell/german-shepherd-dog-rescue-group-of-georgia-inc-ga287/
Nobody will want to mess with this dog's humans, either, though shelter staff say he's mostly just a big playful pup. He is known to like chasing cats and climbing fences. He may not have the temperament to be a police dog but he will need as much food and exercise as a working police dog does.
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