I did not know this before this year – May being home of Mother’s Day (in the United States) and Memorial Day (usually on or around my birthday ) – but it is also Global Pet Adoption Month!

Those of us that have adopted (or rescued) a pet knows that they bring just as much joy to your life than a purebred that cost thousands of dollars.  If not more since you actually saved a life.

***This post is going to be mostly about me and my experiences with rescue and adoption.  If you’re not interested, that’s okay, feel free to skip ahead, but please take a look at the last paragraph or so.

I don’t remember my childhood overly well, but ever since I was a teenager all of my pets have been rescues or adopted.

It started with Cyra when I was a teenager and working at my first job – a zookeeper!  She was found by the maintenance team on zoo property (that was right next to a busy highway).  After searching for the mother for several hours they concluded the mother may have been run over looking for food.  So they placed the barely two week old kittens into a box and headed for the private keeper area where all the keepers went crazy!  The maintenance men were like, “We’re at a zoo and you go crazy over kittens!” I was only able to take one of the four or five munchkins, and I was encouraged to take her – so I did and she was so wonderful!

Even while Cyra was still with me and we had moved so I could go to college, there was a beautiful stray wandering around our apartment complex.  We would set food out for him and he would come around regularly.  We got to the point where he would let us pick him up!  So after some heavy discussions with the roomies, we agreed to bring him in.  So one day when he came around for dinner, we just picked him up and carried him into the house!  Done.  We named him Loki after the Norse god of mischief – NEVER do this!  He really lived up to the name!  Stink-pot!

Okay, so now I have Cyra and Loki.  And we get two more stray coming around for food.  A bit shabby and their long fur matted in spots – they were sisters.  They came around for a long time but one was very skittish, the other a bit more affectionate.  One day they come around and it is obvious that the skittish one was pregnant!  Now we don’t know what to do.  We don’t want to stress her and even if you take one step in her direction, she takes off – so trying to catch her is out of the question.  Now we just hope for the best. 

Easter Sunday 2008, I was woken up to kids knocking on the door.  There was a pile of kittens in front of our door!  Not knowing if she abandoned them, we quickly brought them inside.  Off to PetsMart I go to get some milk replacement – known as KMR.  Okay, to make a very long story short, we had three kittens and we found a forth just behind the fence in the neighbor’s property.  You should have seen his face when we showed up asking if we could check his back yard for kittens!  Okay, kittens raised to 8 weeks of age and I adopt out three of the kittens, we kept one tuxie who we named Beau. 

**Side story – we eventually rescued Mom kitty and Aunt kitty!  And my third roommate took them.  When I moved in 2015 to Virginia, I lost touch with them.

Beau stayed with me through the move – Cyra and Loki sadly leaving my side prior to this time – and all the way until 2021 when he was put to sleep after a terrible, but thankfully quick, fight with stomach cancer.

I am devastated by his loss, a smidge more so with him because I didn’t have other fuzzies at home to comfort me and partly because we were so close and bonded.

It rolls around to April 2022, roughly 8 months after Beau’s departing, and I feel I am ready to get another cat.  I had heard of a 12-year-old orange tabby in desperate need of a good home.  So I keep checking the shelter website – almost daily – to see if he had come up for adoption.  Then I hear he wasn’t going to be put up for adoption, so I began looking for someone else.  Then while searching the same SPCA website I found him!  Another tuxie male – this one named George.  Now this shelter was 2 hours away!  No matter, I made an appointment to do a meet and greet (my mom went with me).  They take us back and introduce us and it was wonderful.  He was cute, a little shy and loved belly rubs!!  My mom goes, ”Ï know you want him.” And that was that.  I paid a whopping $50 (plus tax) for a loving companion.  I also got great pet insurance! But that can be in another post.

George and I just celebrated our 1 year adoptaversary last month.  He has really opened up and is starting to explore more than the second floor.  Personally, I didn’t care for the name but when I got him home and he responded to it, I really didn’t want to change it – so I call him Georgie.

My point is, you can get a great pet that doesn’t have to cost you tons of money.  They still bring you joy.  And if you insist on a purebred STILL check your local shelters, call around.  When I worked at my local SPCA in Florida we got in 3 or 4 purebred husky puppies.  Who knows if they had papers – and you really shouldn’t care!  Don’t pay a breeder, who is just looking for money, to bring more lives into this world when so many need rescuing.  Many are being euthanized just because the shelter doesn’t have any room – or they have been there too long.  This is wrong and it breaks my heart.  If I had the money I would set up a rescue myself.  I have no problem putting money where my mouth is.

Please, I implore you, at least look around, call around and see if you can save a life.  They need you more than the breeders do.

“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

– A.A. Milne

Namaste, God Bless, or until next time said in the way of your preference