A Safe and Happy Life

A kitten or puppy comes into this world, like people, with a chance of landing anywhere. The cats I know and the cats in the blogging world I know have landed in safe, happy homes. At this moment I hear the thunder of little paws upstairs and chortling and squealing as Harper bats his toys around. Last night he got introduced to the kitty go crazy toy, you know, the plastic ring with the ball in the perimeter that spins around. He liked that a lot. And they have both learned to climb the cat trees, though Ramona had to show Harper how to back down. I think she might be the brains of this pair.

Brendan did dawn patrol checking for signs of Jakey the Barn Cat and Silas was up all night doing Mousekeeping. They lead contented lives, though Silas is still afraid of the kittens. And their lives will continue to be as safe and healthy and happy as we can make them. And in return they give us their love and comfort. A good arrangement all around.

But I keep thinking about the forty cats euthanized last week at a shelter in New York as written about by Mandy in Tales and Tails of New York. They did not land in safe homes, or if they once did, were disposed of at the shelter often for flimsy reasons. Their lives took a sudden and tragic turn when second homes and second chances were not available. And all over the country the story is repeated. Millions of healthy, loving animals are killed in this country every year, simply because their are not enough homes.

And yet, in the back of Cat Fancy magazine as I was leafing through it while sitting at the vets, I saw pages and pages of ads for people selling kittens. And I know it is the same for puppies.

One of the most heartening signs I see in this country though is the no-kill movement and a growing awareness of the injustice faced by these creatures whose only crime is being unwanted or a burden to their owners. I was in a mall a while ago in the southern part of our state and I was startled to see puppies for sale in a pet store. I remember there was a store here in our local mall which sold puppies and kittens. At the time, not too long ago, I didn't think about it.

But now I do and I think we need strong laws against selling cats and dogs for money. We need a bigger understanding of the rights of animals to live and be cared for and not treated as something we own. I don't know anything of the laws that concern people breeding cats and dogs so there isn't much I can say about it except what I feel.

Some people would say there are far more important things to be worried about in the world and our efforts should go to taking care of people first. I would like to see a more caring, humane society all around. But I think that if you teach children to have empathy for animals, they will have more empathy for other children and when they grow up they will be better, kinder adults.

And that would give us a better world all around.