Friday, January 04, 2008

This Ain't Sears....

It's always bad news when my home phone rings before 9 a.m.. The lady on the other end asks for "the cat rescue". My first thought was: "Who the hell gave out my home number?" Then she went on to explain that she adopted a cat from me almost 3 years ago. (Those were the days when I used to give out my home number to potential adopters. I don't do that anymore.) She said she adopted the cat from my home - a big long haired black cat. She couldn't remember the name that we used, but damned if I can't remember which cat she's talking about.

Then I hear the words I was dreading: "I want to return him." I hate those words for a variety of reasons:
  1. Taking a cat back means I can't rescue someone else on death row.
  2. It means I made a bad decision about this adopter and the cat wasn't really in a "forever home."
  3. Where can we put this new cat? Is there foster space available?

Returning a cat after 3 years isn't like returning a blouse to Sears, for God's sake. He's going to be depressed and feel abandoned yet AGAIN. She's returning him because she has allergies. I hate that excuse. (that's another blog rant).

I hope he's OK. We're going to make him feel welcomed and loved. When I see him I'm going to tell him that I'm sorry I let him down and I'll do better next time to find him a REAL "forever home".

2 comments:

Social Mange said...

Allergies are usually an EXCUSE, not a reason. There are many ways to manage allergies, but this type of person is lazy, irresponsible and unwilling to think of the animal's welfare. I'd like to put my size 9 into the rears of people who whine and abandon animals.

Anonymous said...

I sincerely hope this person has nightmares about the future welfare of their supposed "beloved" pet that they've abandoned like a pair of shoes that they're sick of. I too refuse to believe the allergies explanation..........I'm convinced its an excuse for most and that's nothing more than despicable!