My Shelter Pet: 25 Days of Me

Welcome to day 14 of the 25 Days of Me and today I want to share another story about me that I originally shared in 2011. Have you gotten a pet from a shelter? Growing up we had all sorts of pets, everything from fish to a horse, a buffalo once and most of the pets were strays. They didn’t come from a shelter but rather they would wander up and no owner could ever be found.

Maybe someone would be getting rid of them and my dad would take them in. The horse and buffalo were not strays although the horse was a nag and headed for the glue factory when we rescued him. The buffalo was a joke gift that I received from a friend of my older brother but the joke was on him because that buffalo was AWESOME! I got my very own, find it all by myself, pet when I was 25. The funny thing is that I got something totally different from what I was looking for.

Just before Christmas the year I turned 25 I thought I would go to my local shelter and look at small dogs. I wanted something to keep me company but not require a lot of attention and I wanted one that was house broken. At the time I worked ten to fifteen hours a day and came home to an empty house every night. So all the way to the shelter I kept going over my list of qualities I was looking for. An older dog might be a good option because they would already be house broken and mellowed out. I got to the shelter and told the girl I wanted to look at some small dogs. The girl told me the small dogs were just past the cats and that larger dogs were beyond that.

I started down the hallway to the small dog area and there was one there that had white dog poo so for reasons unknown to even me I went into the cat room. I guess I just wanted to look. I knew I didn’t want a cat. My mom brought a cat home for my sister when we were younger and that cat hated me. She tried to kill me in my sleep several times by sitting on my face. I knew cats were off-limits. I walked around for no more than a couple of seconds when this cute black cat reached its paw out and touched my shoulder. I tried to walk on several times but it just wouldn’t let go of me. When I looked into the eyes of this cat I almost cried. It had the most human like eyes ever. I never made it to the dog room. The cat that chose me, went home with me.

I am horrible at giving pets names so I called her Kitty, that’s her in the picture above.  She was solid black and from the day I took her home we seemed perfect for one another. I took her to the vet to get spayed only to find out that she was a he! Don’t ask! They told me he was she at the shelter and I never bothered to look. He never required a lot of attention but gave me constant attention. He was a bit of a peeping-tom though.

You had to lock the bathroom door and put a towel over it or he would jump at it until he got it open or just stare at you from under the door (I don’t know why.) The moment I most remember though is when I was crying one night and he jumped on the bed and put his paw on my face. It was like he knew I was upset and was trying to comfort me somehow.

If you are looking for a pet for your family this year why not make it a shelter pet. You can get more information on shelter pets from The Shelter Pet Project. The Shelter Pet Project has a wonderful message and it is:  “A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet. Be that person. Adopt.”

As you can read from my own adoption story that my shelter pet was one of the best things that could happen to me. Kitty (yes I kept the name!) was with me until after I was married. He died from old age after we had seven great years together. He even won over Edgar by sleeping in the living room after we moved in together. We came home one evening and his bed had been pulled from the floor in the bedroom to the living room. He always knew that he was loved but loved me enough to know I didn’t need him as much. He gave me company when I needed the most.