Dear Internet,
Today I woke up exhausted. Overwhelmingly mentally burdened and exhausted.
As the pitter patter of little kitten feet ran from room to room in ongoing and leaping attacks, I was yet again reminded how irresponsible and ignorant the human race can be. I am SO over, SO OVER, the abuse and neglect we have seen of the animal population lately.
You may (or may not) know that our family recently took in two abandoned kittens. While this in and of itself is not a big deal, it’s on top of the 4 already abandoned cats we care for and one abused and neglected dog (that by nature is now overly worried and anxious that if we step out for 2 minutes we are leaving him forever). And I will also mention this comes hot on the heels of the two recent rescues we were a part of.
My family is tired.
We are tired of picking up after the “I didn’t know a cat could get pregnant so early”, we are tired of the “kittens are so cute we thought we would have one litter of them”, we are tired of the “I didn’t have the money to get my animal fixed”, we are REALLY tired of the “I moved to a new place/state and couldn’t take my animal with me.”
This is what happens when you leave your animal behind to “fend for itself.”
This is what happens when you let your animal breed and then throw it out when you are done:
My family has been unfairly burdened by kindness. By the very thing that every human being in this country should automatically be raised with: awareness.
Our hearts are making up for the thousands of hearts that find it OK to add to the pet population in droves by ignorance and injustice.
Here’s the thing.
Animals go into heat naturally and instinctively they fulfill what nature has told them to do: get pregnant. They don’t make “choices”. They do not have the capacity to say “Not now honey, aren’t the first 36 litters enough?”
BUT YOU DO.
Have you ever walked through a high kill shelter? No? Because it’s “too sad?”
What is too sad is that its being added to day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Reality is there are so many animals out there that the average person doesn’t even notice, or care enough, to pay attention.
Let me show you what a shelter looks like:
And my pictures make them look good. They don’t show the sadness in their eyes, the terror, the confusion, the smell… I can tell you that most of these happy and healthy animals will be overlooked and passed up, if anyone even visits, and spend the last of their short lives behind bars to be injected with poison and killed.
Once a puppy or kitten is born they pretty much have no chance.
Let me be clear here.
- I am not a hippy.
- I am not a save the world person.
- I am not PETA
What I am is someone that can’t turn away from the obvious.
Something has to be done.
Now let’s get back to those kittens.
I put them up on shelter sites, emailed every rescue agency in the county, used Facebook, twitter and my blog and only one person has stopped. One person stopped to give them a look over and then decide they were not cute enough or doing the “right things” to give them a home. ONE.
And you know why? Because the selection is so large every day in every city around the country.
Instead at my home we add two more litter boxes, come up with the money to get them fixed, add more cat food and fur and care to a family whose meal time already looks like a rescue facility:
For the love of all that is right, Dear Internet, sack up.
Take responsibility for your pets.
So my family can take a break for a minute.
~Trisha
If you are interested in adopting one or two wonderful and sweet kittens that were thrown out into the world to fend for themselves after some complete and utter asshole decided he didn’t want them followed by the asshole that let his/her cat get pregnant, please contact me.