Mark your calendars: January 24 is Nationwide Change a Pet’s Life Day. However in the event you’re like me, you don’t want a calendar to remind you to assist homeless animals. Actually, I wager a day not often goes by if you’re not doing one thing, huge or small, to enhance their lives. Perhaps it’s signing a petition, volunteering, or encouraging everybody to “undertake, don’t store.” I’m grateful for each alternative I get to make a distinction, together with a latest probability to vary the lifetime of a beautiful Siamese kitty named Willow Rose.
In early December, my Florida rescue accomplice and buddy, Gretchen Byrne @bocaratona, requested me to assist with a horrifying scenario. Gretchen is a cop well-known for her feline rescue work. She typically encounters some actually horrible stuff within the line of responsibility, however this one shocked even Gretchen.
Actually, what occurred was so upsetting that I choose not to enter the small print. Simply know that this five-year-old kitty witnessed a really distressing scene of home violence. Unsurprisingly, she arrived in my program in shock. At first, she hid and refused to eat, however inside just a few days, she was purring, having fun with head snuggles, and consuming. I used to be so moved by her resilience and willingness to start once more. Then, very quickly in any respect, she went to her new residence with a compassionate adopter, the place she is settling in fantastically. Gosh, I’m so honored to have helped change this courageous lady’s life.
As a purebred Seal Level Siamese, Willow Rose jogged my memory that there are various fancy-breed cats with fosters, in shelters, and with breed-specific rescue teams, all on the lookout for houses. Like all homeless pets, they deserve the very best that life has to supply. So if you’d like a specific breed of pet, please don’t store! As an alternative, try your native rescue assets — as a result of with shelters bursting on the seams and animals going through euthanasia day-after-day, I don’t assume any cat or canine must be bred.
Actually, in some elements of the world, there’s a motion to ban sure breeds for humane causes. I simply learn that, efficient January 1 this yr, the Netherlands has banned the breeding, sale, and import of Scottish Fold and Sphinx cats, resulting from extreme genetic well being issues linked to their distinctive traits. Breeding Scottish Folds for these curled ears damages cartilage all through their our bodies, resulting in excessive and painful arthritis. Likewise, hairless Sphynx cats undergo excessive charges of coronary heart illness, shortening their lifespans.
Current cats are exempt from this new regulation, in fact, and I acknowledge that some would possibly assume it’s controversial. However from firsthand expertise, I can say that some breeds undergo due to what we think about cute, and it’s so unfair. As you would possibly know, the primary pet Howard and I shared was an English Bulldog named Bianca, and we completely adored her for practically 10 years. She was a enjoyment of each means, however she got here with many well being points that have been painful to witness. Her demise in 2012 motivated me to do extra for all animals, and that’s when my feline foster program actually took off.
