Adoption

Today I had one of those conversations with my husband that reminded me why I love him so much.

Every time I lose an animal I have the intense need to get a new one. I think it fills a hole to pass the love on and it makes me feel like its the right thing to do. We are no better or worse off than we were before so it doesn’t make me flinch. I know, deep down, he probably wants to let everyone pass and then have a fur free, litter free, responsibility free life, but it’s not where I can live comfortably, so he consented with a “whatever you bring home, I will love.”

Which sounded like permission to get a new cat…

So I picked up Charlotte from gymnastics and we went to the kill shelter to visit. I asked them if there was a particular cat that was in danger. They were honest and said that pretty much everyone is short on time, so really…the truth was it didn’t matter. I was surprised to find that this sweet Siamese, that has only been there a week, already has her time “up”.

And this baby that has been there the longest (two whole weeks):

I had a hard time.

Almost every cat there had a great personality.

From this 15 pound baby:

To the tiniest and loneliest kitten (Charlotte’s fav):

P liked this little black one and this little black one liked P:

In the end we didn’t pick anyone…..they were starting to close and I liked too many to make a choice. We got in the car and Charlotte started to panic.

“But what if they kill them before we come back?”

I said…”Well, that is a possibility. We will come back and keep looking when they are open again.”

Then she asked me to go back in and tell them to wait for us till the morning. So I walked back up and the doors were already locked. I got in the car and said I couldn’t tell them because it was locked.

She said “I really think killing animals should be against the law and people who kill animals should go to jail.“

I said “My dear, I 100% agree with you, but they do not have room for new animals. This is not the shelters fault. It’s people who are irresponsible with their pets.”

And she thought about it and said “….so they kill animals to bring in new animals?”

I said “yes”.

She just had no answer. And unfortunately neither do I.

For now, we are just grateful we get to save another animal in our lives, but feeling overwhelmingly burdened by the choice. Last week I had to decide to let a friend die…this week I get to decide to let a new friend live.

Neither feels much like a hero.

~trisha

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or sharing with your favorite site. My two favorite ways to share great finds are Facebook and StumbleUpon. Thank you so much for visiting!