Feline Friends

First, I think that I need to explain why we, a group whose mission statement says that we will provide a permanent home for homeless and abandoned cats and keep them safe and healthy within our shelter for the balance of their natural lives, were looking for another more permanent home for Rain-Beau.

We are a very small shelter. The key to our being able to continue to rescue is adoptions. Many people are weary of adopting a shelter kitty anyway and then there was Rain-Beau. He was so friendly that he'd get people's attention as soon as they came in the door and the first thing they'd say was, "Oh! That cat's sick!" Then we'd have to try to explain that actually he was feeling pretty good. That they were looking at the nursed back to health version of the kitty we'd taken in April. That when we first got him you couldn't even tell what color his eyes were under all of the scars and goop, (green) and that his congestion was so pronounced in the beginning that you could hear him breathing from across the room even if a train was going by and the washer and dryer were running. We also got a lot of, "Oh, so that's the cage for the sick kitties." Rain-beau shared a cage with two perfectly healthy kitties, Miles and Moo-Lan. We were starting to wonder if their chances for adoption were being hampered by the stigma of living in the "sick" cage. So that's what led us to the following:

On November 26th, I was packed and ready to leave early the next morning for a three day trip. I had just received word earlier that another local, more permanent shelter had agreed to take Rain-Beau. Since I was feeling a little unsettled about it, I turned to a resource I'd used only once before in six years. I wrote to another volunteer, Amy, about it since I didn't want him to be gone before I got back from my trip.

Hey Amy,

I just posted the following on Petfinder's message board:

Rain-beau is a male, adolescent dilute tortoiseshell. He's the only male tortoiseshell we've ever seen at our shelter. He was born into a family of cats that was not being spayed or neutered by their owners. Some of them were very sick but they were not receiving any veterinary care. His brother ended up needing his eye removed. Rain-beau had to have a lot of scar tissue removed from his eyes but he can see just fine. He's been at our shelter in Deerfield Beach, FL for about six months now. Since he doesn't look completely normal and has an amazing amount of boogers, the general consensus is that he will not be adopted. So.... we are about to offer a generous donation to another shelter that is more or less a permanent home. They are very interested. I should be thrilled that the story has such a happy ending. Instead, I'm sad that we are giving up on his chance for a normal, real home. He's SO friendly! He is such a cuddler and gives so much love. I think he'd actually make an amazing addition to any home. I just want to be able to sleep peacefully knowing that I threw out the fact of his existence to as wide of a community as I could before we completely gave up on him. If anyone has any ideas about an actual home with real people who could love him, then please let me know. Thanks!

I just want to make sure we've exhausted all avenues for the sake of my own soul. The Petfinder message board was where I found a home for Tex, the cat at Acacia that was Leukemia and Aids positive. You never know. I'll check for responses when I get home from my trip on Tuesday night. Try to stall Rain-Beau's leaving until at least Wednesday. Thanks!

Beth

Of course I couldn't wait to check for a response until I got home from my trip, so I checked it before I left for the airport the next morning. Go to the next page to see what I found:

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