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With the introduction of my blog, the feline invasion of the Dog Blog is progressing! Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be broadcasting the cats’ takeover plans like that? Let’s…just carry on with my intentions unrelated to the feline invasion.
Every animal that arrives at a shelter is accompanied by a story – one that starts before they get there, lengthens during their stay at the shelter, and extends into their final move into a forever home. The animals don’t have the fortune of having each page of their stories documented; their file begins with something like “stray cat” or “allergies” and may include a chapter where they’re castrated (not that they want the world to hear about that), but for the most part the trials of animals to adapt to the shelter life are left unwritten, kept in the minds of those who have watched them.
Well, I love to write—and I love these animals. So many of the cats at the SPCA Montérégie feel like they are my cats (and I am not only talking about my personal favourite who is somewhat appropriately named ‘My Cat’). To watch how each of them adapts to the shelter environment is fascinating: some fit in right away, some are victimized by other cats, some won’t allow anyone to touch them, some literally jump into people’s arms…
Cats will start off one way and become someone completely different as time goes on. The people who see them now won’t realize how they’ve changed from that ‘arrival date’ written on their file. No one would really look at those four orange cats in the photo up there and know that one usually sleeps in hidden places even though he loves people, one arrived at the shelter with a collar but his owners were never found, one is the biggest lap cat in the world, and one will likely be celebrating his one-year anniversary at the shelter this July.
I will use this blog to share those experiences that the cats can’t tell, some individual-specific while others apply to many of the cats that find themselves in a shelter setting. I hope the anecdotes and observations that I have to share will entertain you all—you’ll be hearing from me again soon! Now the question is, who should I talk about when I next write…?
