Herban Sprawl

Here in the Star City we have a stellar SPCA shelter. It’s in a new building, complete with a special cat room, where the cats get to go to hang out in chairs, or on kitty condos. It even has catnip mousies. The thing is, it’s a no-kill shelter, and in these times of economic uncertainty, people are unloading pets. It’s a sad state of affairs, but all of us can understand. Even the Meals-on-Wheels pet food supply is dwindling.

In the past couple of days, I have gotten three urgent emails begging for foster home care. The first was for a litter of newborn kittens who needed to be bottle fed every 2 and a half hours. The next was for three puppies and a female who needed temporary care until cage space opened up. All were a mix of black lab and other breeds. One was just as cute as the next, and the female looked like she’d be a great dog. Finally, they needed space for three litters of bright-eyed, perky kittens. 3 kittens per batch need foster care until September 11^th.

This puts me in a bad spot. I’ve dutifully forwarded the emails along to other critter lovers, but like us, they have pets of their own who would not welcome intruders. It’s ironic. When Barney Jr., Charlie and Simon came to us, it was over my objections to Mrs. Kittycat that we were about to get the floors refinished and that I didn’t want kittens ruined by the noise of the machinery. I figured it would make them neurotic. She insisted, and so much so that I packed them into a carrier every morning, and they went to her house and stayed in her spare room for day care! They got to have a sleepover the night the fumes from the finish drove us all out! Mrs. Kittycat’s cats, Barney (Sr.) and Millie, were curious, but there were no behavioral issues over the kittens being in their home.

By contrast, there was a kitten on the doorstep of the neighborhood nut case and she hauled it to the neighborhood pet lover. The pet lover was finally an empty nester and she wanted to keep it that way. We took her in and put her, food, water and a little litter pan into our downstairs bathroom. You would have thought we were harboring Public Enemy #1 for all the carrying on that our cats enacted. That poor kitten must have been scared to death! I kept reminding the three tyrants that they had been born in foster care and it was their turn to provide hospitality on a temporary basis, but they were having none of it. Even Charlie, the normally affable fella, was nasty.

Luckily the next day I found a cat rescuer who agreed to take her, and then the school nurse got interested in the story and liked the description of the little girl. They connected at the local cat vet’s and Mocha is a very spoiled and happy kitty. It was a good ending, but that night she was with us, I thought ours were going to figure out how to open a securely closed door and do her in!

I cannot speak for the other localities and their animal pounds, but ours does a good job. We also have a group that does a big spay/neuter day when they try to take care of feral cats. This is important work. Animals contribute greatly to the quality of life for many people. As Earl in the comic strip Pickles has discovered, petting his dog Roscoe lowers his blood pressure. A dog lover friend would highly disagree, but a purring cat in my lap is like magic. In spite of being unwilling hosts, ours are very affectionate and love to be close to us. It’s the animals that wander through our yard that provoke their bad manners!)

So an SOS for foster care is an important way to give back. Having provided a home for a friend’s pregnant cat, I can attest to the fun it brings. But for now, I’m looking to the rest of youse to fill in where our three won’t let us. My contribution will continue to be catnip mice for Marie Reid’s cat room.