If you've ever happened into a shelter or a Petsmart, Petco or any other any other place thinking about adopting a cat, do you balk at the price? Do you say to yourself, "Gee... this price seems kinda high"? Does the price keep you from adopting a kitty? Let me tell you a story about one tough little girl, and perhaps it will explain where your money goes. Hopefully the story will be worth the price of admission... or adoption, as it were.
Lexi had the world stacked against her from the start. She was the runt of the litter. Her momma passed a few weeks after giving birth. We put her in a kennel with another momma and her kittens hoping the momma would adopt her and the other kittens would accept her as one of their own. No matter how hard we tried, the new momma and her kittens just rejected poor Lexi right from the start. She just huddled up in a little ball, so scared because the others would hiss at her and swat her little head. It seemed nobody wanted her. That is... except for us.
The next thing going against her was the she was a Failure To Thrive kitten. She was very sick for quite a long time. She couldn't put on any weight, nor would she grow in size. The picture above is Lexi at 10 weeks old, which is easily one-third the size of what she should have been.
There were times we would have to force feed her thru a syringe. As time went on, she got sicker. She became dehydrated and it almost killed her. I went home many nights wondering if she would make it thru the night, and saying my prayers that God would help us help her. The things we put her thru would have made just about any person give up. She never gave up. Just as sweet as could be, she would cry from the pain of needles and medication, yet she also trusted us to do what we could.
It took a long time, a good deal of money (this is where the adoption price comes in) and a lot of love to get her where she needed to be. Slowly but surely she got better. She hardly grew in size, but her energy came back. Not too long after that she would play a little. After that, she started following us around and seemed to have endless energy - as a kitten should. She would purr this soft little sound, then come and take a quick bite out of your finger. We were having success!!! After another few weeks, she FINALLY started putting on some weight and growing. She was becoming a big girl now!!!
To end the story, she's all grown up. She's happy and healthy and has herself a wonderful loving home. The little girl who could barely stand, barely breath, and several times had us in tears pulled it all together - - and she's bright, shiny and beautiful.
So now... about that adoption fee. Your adoption fee helps you save the life your your newest bestest friend that you will be taking home with you, but also goes to save the lives of many other cats and kittens that have stories similar to Lexi's. The adoption fee helps everyone.
Instead of feeling sorry for a cat or kitten... adopt one!!!
Paul Zimmerman
No comments:
Post a Comment