Friday, March 06, 2009

Rescue Me

Dear Superior Animal Rescue Federation (ARF):

Thank you for denying my application for a rescue kitty for my daughter.

It's nice to know that such fine upstanding people are working for the betterment of the lives of animals in your community.

While I appreciate being lectured by your staff on how horrible of a person I am due to the fact that I did not have my present cat up to date on her vaccines, there is always the slight possibility that the people you are treating like shit do not appreciate it.

After telling the truth on our application that we had two dogs and one cat and that our pets are fixed, your staff proceeded to call our vet. When they didn't have it on record that our latest dog (from the Cloquet Animal Shelter who happens to ROCK!) was fixed, I was met with a snide insinuation that we must be lying. After assuring her that the dog was fixed at the shelter that he came from, I was then challenged on the fact that our cat was not up to date on her shots.

I told you that our cat is strictly an indoor cat. She has never tried to go outside. She is not in the least interested in outside. Outside is a truly frightening concept for her.

And here is where you climbed to the mountaintop with your clay tablets and delivered your sermon from on high.

My beliefs are horribly wrong. I am so misinformed that I give a new definition to the word "ignorant". I was even told about a member of the board of your shelter who had 8 cats and didn't vaccinate them and they got distemper and now they are living at the shelter.

Waaah?

You let a person with 8 cats that sound as if they were surrendered because they were sick, serve on your board?

Yet, Josephine Schmo comes in off the street with one cat who is not vaccinated and two dogs that go outside all the time and are totally up to date on their shots, and I can't adopt a pet. Could I instead serve on your board of directors?

Well, it's been a pleasure doing business with you. The experience as been completely transcendent. From the stench when I entered your establishment to the trail of urine I was tracking after walking through your pet area, I was totally captivated. I also really appreciated the fact that your socially stunted volunteer was quite insistent that my daughter not change the cat's name if she were to adopt it because "I named her that name and she likes it".

And someday, that volunteer will die alone in her trailer surrounded by the twenty seven cats that she has adopted from work and they will proceed to eat her face down to the bone.

I'm just sayin'.

Now, we will proceed to visit Cloquet. My daughter has only asked for one thing out of all of this horribleness. She wants a big fat cat to snuggle with.

Sounds pretty fishy to me...

6 comments:

Rebecca Hartong said...

While the person at ARF is clearly an idiot in many ways, it is very true that simply keeping your cat indoors is no guarantee that she's protected from some pretty awful illnesses. Something could come in on the dog's feet, or the cat could interact with a sick mouse or bat that might get into the house.

Worse, what if the new cat comes in with some undiagnosed problem and infects the current cat? That would be pretty awful, but it's not uncommon.

I'm just saying... yes, a person can over-vaccinate. And, yes, an indoor cat doesn't need as many vaccines as an outdoor cat, BUT they do still need some vaccines.

I'm guessing that if getting this new cat didn't mean so much to you because of everything else that's going on, you might not have reacted quite so strongly.

Anyway. If you don't have any luck with the rescue or shelter people and can wait a couple months, check out the newspapers for give-away cats. There are usually a lot more cats looking for homes when the students leave for the summer. Or... Do what I've been known to do: If you see a big friendly cat wandering around the neighborhood who doesn't clearly belong to someone else, "rescue" him.

Debbie said...

So it's ok to take the law into your own hands and perhaps steal someone else's cat?

Wow, I really don't understand the world of animal rescus.

And in all honesty, I don't like being treated like I'm an idiot. No matter what circumstances I'm going through.

Shelly said...

That is really brutal! For all the STUPID reasons people 'surrender' their pets, you'd think it would be like a ray of sunshine to have someone with pets as well taken care of as yours.

I'm pretty much the same as you on the cat vaccine scene--they happened to have been updated last January, I think, but hadn't been for a few years before that. They live indoors, eat ridiculously expensive prescription cat food (one was prone to UTI's, so he needs it or he wouldn't make it), and are insanely spoiled. Vaccinations are not a high priority with my cats. I would check out Cloquet or scoop up a freebie from the paper.

Anonymous said...

Or try Craig's List...

Or start leaving little bowls of milk around outside...

Here kitty, kitty, kitty... : )

Debbie said...

We went to Cloquet and got our kitty today. His name from the shelter is Morris but it might be changing to Harvey. He is safely ensconced in our bathroom with a litter box, food, and a blankie.

The shelter folks said that he had been adopted last week and then brought back when he was spraying around their house. We are going to keep it really low key and introduce him slowly as they suggested.

Aside from being adorable, he likes to wrap his arms around my daughter's neck and lick her chin.

I'll post photos in a bit.

Rebecca Hartong said...

Hurray! I'm glad you found a kitty. Our other differences of opinion aside, I know we agree that giving a home to a cat in need is a VERY good thing. :-)