Back at the end of January we had to put Janie down. It hurt, but she was miserable, and nothing was helping any more.
One thing I started doing, almost immedietly, was looking for a new cat. Not because I wanted a new cat so soon, cause really, I didn’t. But because in order to fit into this household a cat is going to have to fit some fairly strict criteria, and I knew it was going to take time to find a cat who did.
The problem of course is Arty’s prey drive. He understands that he’s not allowed to chase MY cats, but any cat he doesn’t ID as mine is fair game, and I’ve not been able to break that yet (and may not be able to ever). Any new cat that enters my house will have a period of time where, if it makes a “prey like” move Arty will attempt to pounce, it IS going to take me time to get him to realize this is MY cat. SO: No kittens, they’re to small and helpless and to likely to do things like scamper accross the floor in a mad dash…..I’d prefer a young adult cat, between 1-3 years of age. The cat needs to already be dog savvy. And a larger cat is probly a good idea. A laid-back temperment is also required, to put up with Arty.
Now I already knew that my local shelter had a strict policy of not adopting dogs into a home with an intact dog. The fact that the dog I’d been looking at was already spayed had no bearing on their decision. Apollo’s intact and thats that. But surely it was different for their cats…..
Nope. Intact dog, therefor no cat for me. I shook my head and started casting my net wider.
And repeatedly ran into the same policy. Apollo’s intact, therefor MULTIPLE rescues will not adopt an already “fixed” cat to me.
Guys, I promise Apollo has no taste for rape, much less cross-species rape, and the Tibetan Meow-stiff is an urban legend, I swear……
Its so bad that when I run across a new rescue I no longer email asking for more info on specific animals, and I no longer fill out the adoption application. Instead the first thing I do is email asking if they will adopt a CAT into a home that has an intact DOG.
I haven’t found one yet.
These same rescues constantly go on about not being able to find homes for all their animals. These same rescues can’t understand why people end up getting their next cat or dog from some BYB on Craigslist.
They do it to themselves.
