Dear friends, many of you read my reports here on the Christmas Eve fire in the house where I was catsitting 12 cats (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=165178).
There is a heartbreaking turn of events now, that I am writing about to ask if any of you may be able to help in some way or another.
Simon (owner) now wants to re-home 11 of the 12 cats. He and his lady friend have signs up on the local Whole Foods bulletin board. A friend called to tell me about the signs.
Simon had told me a few days before that they were thinking of rehoming "a few" of them and that Valerie (his friend) has a vast network of friends she is contacting about taking some. Now it seems it's all but one of the cats, and they're advertising to the general public.
I called him yesterday afternoon. Yes, they are doing this, and yes, they are being very careful about wonderful-seeming adopters who really are looking to acquire animals for experiments, product testing, fighting-dog bait, and such.
But.. not only at Whole Foods, he said they have an ad on Craigslist (which I immediately thought is ASKING for trouble, not that I've ever done anything on Craigslist myself).
I told him, if it would make a difference, I'd come every day and scoop their litters and clean their boxes and their dishes and freshen their food and water.. on my own time, he wouldn't even have to pay me.. but no..
He said they've found a very nice family who want to adopt Chauncey (one of the Himalayans with the bad mats whom I took to the groomer's last week). I again gave him the warning about "perfect"-seeming adopters.
I told him I might adopt the most-elderlies Poppaea and Lavinia (the one who went to the E-vet after the fire). (I have five cats already in my two-room apartment! But if it would save their lives..) Then there are two elderly black sisters, Thelma and Louise.. These four really old ones, plus some of the others that are really shy of people, are the ones I'm most worried about.
I feel really bad about this. I told him, I can just see Kristine (his late wife) whipping up tornadoes from her ashes! He laughed at that, which said to me that he knows damn well what Kristine would think about it.
Some of them originally came from Mosaic (the shelter I was just laid off from working at), and they can go back there, but the rest (including these four oldies-but-goodies) will need to get new homes. I don't think they've set a deadline the cats have to be gone by.. I hope not, anyway.
SO, THIS IS MY REQUEST: Would any of you possibly be interested in taking in any of these cats?.. or have other friends and/or contacts who might be able to take one or more.. or might know of more networks? ... Please get word out to all the people you know who might adopt any of them or know any other good people who might adopt any of them?
Location and transport will be dealt with somehow. If not TOO far away .. e.g., northern/western MI? Chicago? Toronto? Cleveland? Columbus?? .. I'll even drive them myself if necessary.
I was wondering last night whether I should take Lavinia.. she has a LOT of health problems and I do not have the money for a lot of vet work (I think Poppaea is in pretty good shape, considering her age and all).. plus seven cats would really be pushing it for space in my apartment. But who else would adopt Lavinia?
Who else would adopt so many of the others? And most of them are old enough that a complete change in their lives, after all the upheavals they've been through in the last couple of months, and after losing Kristine the year before, will be so traumatic for them. They'll all need a lot of extra special care and attention, and many could use some vet attention too.
I will find out where the Craigslist thread is and if they have a web site about the cats or other contact info.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for any help, suggestions, advice, or encouragement, friends!
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How could he take in 12 cats - and now want to get rid of almost all of them? Or is it his new lady love?
Originally Posted by Grace
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