Animal Shelter = Wal-Mart...NOT!!!

[Eireann]

OH, am I GLAD they took the kitty back!

I got my cats at a shelter. The woman who runs it is one of the most dedicated people I've ever met. She told me that they wouldn't give a cat to anyone who didn't seem trustworthy.

My cats hid for a hell of a long time after I got them. I was evicted from one apartment because of them (among other issues). I've had some heinous vet bills. I still can't pick them up, and they won't sit on my lap.

Girlkitty, who once hid behind the largest piece of furniture she could find, now rises on her hind legs to butt against my hand when I pet her. Boykitty rubs against my legs. They sleep on my bed.

It's worth it. But a dumbass like that woman will never know.

[Brighid45]

I'm so glad the shelter took the cat back! Poor boo-kitty. It was probably best for the cat anyway, as that woman sounds like a total self-absorbed idiot who thinks of pets as accessories. The cat probably had 'new home' nerves. I've adopted several cats and they usually do go through a period of hiding or upset digestion until they get used to things. Plenty of patience and calm are called for, but worth it in the end.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I hope they didn't give idiot woman another cat, tho, when they took the cat back off her. Poor kitty; hope it gets another home with someone who isn't completely braindead this time.

[Becks]

I think that the HS tracks people who adopt from them, to see if they return animals, etc.

[MystyGlyttyr]

My cat DQ is basically, well...special. He's got a horrendous overbite, he's bowlegged, and if he's not at least mildly retarded (and I don't mean that in a mean way), I'd be surprised. He hasn't yet gotten it through his head that he can't fit his year-old body into the same spaces that his six-week-old body could, so he gets stuck now and then, usually in ways that require a screwdriver and some pliers to fix. He pukes pretty regularly...no real reason, just sometimes gets excited and barfs, just like a human kid would. And he SCREAMS at the top of his lungs for attention no matter whether you're across the room or sitting right in front of him. GOD, he screams.

But special or not, he's my little baby who purrs and kisses me and loves me, and if some wench were to freak out and tell me to take him to the pound because he barfed on the rug, wench is going to be doing some barfing of her own when I lodge a can of carpet foam in her windpipe. Obviously this woman didn't have children because if she had ever changed a diaper in her life, she'd know cat digestion is much preferable to human infant digestion.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I volunteered at a local shelter when i was a teenager. My whole family are animal freaks---every one of us, and we'd had all sorts of animals as pets, so I was especially qualified for this job.

One morning we had a woman come in with a beautiful white persian in a carrier. This cat had obviously been very babied all her life, her coat was freshly brushed and she looked like she just stepped out of a cat food commercial. The snotty lady carrying her put her up on the counter and told me with a straight face that she didn't want it anymore because she'd just redone her living room and the cat no longer matched. I had to restrain myself from launching over the counter and grabbing her by the throat.

She left the cat there. Luckily for the cat, she was anal enough to bring in all it's paperwork---shots and all.

It had a new (BETTER!) home less than a week later.

[iradney]

that she didn't want it anymore because she'd just redone her living room and the cat no longer matched.[/I]

tell me she was on drugs...PLEASE tell me she was on drugs! A loved pet goes with everything - even if it's a spotted pet with a paisley room! Plus, doesn't white go with, like, EVERYTHING anyway?

'scuse me, i need to curl up in a corner and rock myself...

[ThePhoneGoddess]

She wasn't, Iradney. She was just an uber-rich yuppie woman who apparently had gotten the cat as an 'accessory' to her living room.

She was dressed to the nines and obviously just wanted 'rid of the thing'.

[iradney]

Good grief...I thought people like that only existed in the movies...*shakes head sadly*

[MCSledgehammer]

Her cat didn't match???? WTF? I've had my lovely tri-color kitty for almost 13 years now, and being tri-color, at least two of those colors show up on EVERYTHING. If anybody tried to tell me I should get rid of my cat, especially for something as ridiculous as that, death would come to them swiftly, probably in the form of blunt object trauma to the face... I always tease my hubby that the cat's been around a lot longer than he has, so he better keep on her good side.

[XCashier]

The cat's better off without that snotty old hag. I'm glad Kitty found a good home later, probably with people who don't mind white cat hair on their mismatched furniture!

[Kitten in the box]

I volunteered at a local shelter when i was a teenager. My whole family are animal freaks---every one of us, and we'd had all sorts of animals as pets, so I was especially qualified for this job.

One morning we had a woman come in with a beautiful white persian in a carrier. This cat had obviously been very babied all her life, her coat was freshly brushed and she looked like she just stepped out of a cat food commercial. The snotty lady carrying her put her up on the counter and told me with a straight face that she didn't want it anymore because she'd just redone her living room and the cat no longer matched. I had to restrain myself from launching over the counter and grabbing her by the throat.

She left the cat there. Luckily for the cat, she was anal enough to bring in all it's paperwork---shots and all.

It had a new (BETTER!) home less than a week later.

Got rid if the cat because it didn't match with her living room. What a "nice" thing to do for it. That lady is a B-I-T-C-H!! You don't just get rid of a pet because "it doesn't match with your redone living room" We have a grey cat, a black cat, and a tabby cat, plus an abysinian mix...do they go with our furniture? Nope. Are we keeping them? Yep. But wait a minute...isn't white a univeral color and can go with ANYTHING?

[protege]

What a bitch. I don't care if my kitty doesn't match the carpet. Since my living room carpet is blue and the carpet in the office is peach, how could he? There's an easy way to prevent furballs all over the place--simply vacuum once a week and all the little kitty hairs disappear.

[AFpheonix]

She may be a bitch, but at least she was taking extremely good care of it in the meantime.

[Polenicus]

/lurk

I've got a bit of a cat story to tell of my own. And I'll just say right now, at no point during this whole situation did the idea of RETURNING the cat cross my mind. MY CAT!

Anyway, I heard on the radio that one of the SPCA's in the city had an outbreak of distemper. It was under control, but they had to move all the HEALTHY (Emphasis on that) animals out so they could disinfect the premisis, and were asking for volunteers to take an animal for a week or two. Now, I had gotten one of my rabbits from this SPCA, so I wanted to help. I checked online, and rabbits and cats evidently got along well, so I decided to take a cat for a week.

I went in, and sure enough, they had a cat they couldn't place. He had a cold. He had already be cleared of distemper, but because he was sick no one would take him. Since I had no other cats, I agreed, and I got free food and litter out of the deal, as well as his meds. They assured me he was neutered and ready to go, and had in fact been adopted out previously, and brought back because he was sick.

Bah. Some people.

So I bundled him home. I was pleasantly surprised when he wasn't sick in the car, or pee everywhere (Most of my previous cats didn't take the ride home well) and he immediately found a warm place to curl up and blearily went to sleep.

I dutifully gave him his meds, and he got rapidly better. He was affectionate, quiet, and genuinely seemed to like my rabbits. I named him 'Nikko' (Can't remember where I got the name) and decided I liked having a cat again. So I decided to see about keeping him.

I called up the shelter to report on his health (As I was asked to do), and when I mentioned him to the receptionist, she said 'Oh! You mean the little female?'

Errr?

Well, I guess there was a mixup. No matter, though 'Nikko' was an odd name for a girl (She was already responding to it though, and had NO adjustment problems. She just seemed overjoyed to have a home with food and warmth and attention). I reconfirmed that she WAS spayed, and indicated I'd like to keep her. They had no problems with that... I think there was some payment involved, but they said the paperwork I filled out when I took her temporarily was sufficient.

Now, since she was spayed, I had no problem letting her go outside, and kept a window open for her. She was quite insistent on that, but never strayed outside of the yard. It cut down on her litterbox useage, so I didn't complain.

Several months later, she disappeared for three days. I looked for her, and eventually despaired of ever finding her again, cursing myself for not restricting her outside time. I figured she was gone for good. But I left her window open, just in case. She eventually returned on a rainy day, waking me up by licking my cheek and rubbing against me.

I cut down on her outside time then.

Some time later, I noticed she was getting fat, and switched her to diet food. At least she didn't seem as insistent about being outside all the time, and had settled down and seemed content to lounge on top of my computer desk most days.

Eventually, I noticed her pronounced nipples. And then her tummy MOVED.

Nikko was not male. Nikko was not neutered. Nikko was not SPAYED. Nikko WAS pregnant. By a local stray who hung out in our neighborhood (He actually used to come into my place and 'fight' with her. Heh, yeah, 'fight')

She had three kittens a couple of weeks later. My parents adopted one, and we found good homes for the other two.

And I didn't return my pregnant male neutered cat to the SPCA, in spite of it all