I work with a woman who has two cats, one of whom she adopted only months before she and her husband went through the adoption process for a child. They first fostered and, a year later, adopted twin girls. The children have a few medical problems, one of them being asthma from cats. Her husband has medical problems and is slated for a kidney transplant this year, to be donated by my co-worker. She has a very responsible job and often works at home extra time. At every twist and turn of fate, every problem, this co-worker has worked out how to deal with everything and the cats are still living happily in her home.
I'm fostering a cat right now who was a turn-in to the no-kill shelter where I volunteer. The reason for surrender was that the couple had a baby and couldn't care for the cat any more. The cat, Siren, went out to a store for adoption but didn't eat. She is one of the shyest and most stressed-out cats I've met. For the first two days, her pupils were completely dilated and she didn't eat anything. Then she began eating a very little if I was in the room keeping her company. She's only just started to eat when I'm not keeping her company. Last night she used the armchair in her room for the very first time and it almost made me cry to see her relax and enjoy comfort. Before that she lived, and slept on the windowsill. She loves human companionship but seems confused about receiving attention, wanting it and then not wanting you to be too close. It was right that she be given up to the shelter, I know, but all I can think about is the selfish sods who couldn't give attention to a cat as well as a baby.
I'm another who couldn't go to a shelter without adopting a cat. Proof of this was when I went to an adoption center for a local animal control recently to look at a seriously disabled cat and ended up adopting not only him but two other cats who looked like they wanted to tear down that doors to their small cages.
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