Maybe our new shelter cat?

At least one, and I think both of our shelter cats have gone to the Bridge. By "shelter cats," I mean the resident cats at our shelter. There was Cheyenne, who I know passed away a while back, and Jordan, who, the last I knew, was being kept in a cage in the back due to ringworm.

I paid yesterday afternoon for "Big Papa" to be neutered. He's a cat built on the concrete block plan, square, solid, with the large cheeks of an unneutered tom. But he sooooo loves attention. Get him out of his cage, and you don't have enough lap or hands to keep him happy. I sat on the floor, and he curled up in my lap and purred with a purr set to the idling of a CATerpillar engine! What a lover!

There are a few at my shelter that I am especially attached to. Three or four of them that I would like to take home, if I could cope with more, and ones that I worry will never be adopted.

#1 for quite a while is Constantine, the most adorable brown tabby with a pink nose and a tattered ear. He's been there over a year. He's the one that the shelter sent a few weeks ago to the ophthalmologist to have his eye condition - hairs growing inside his eyelids - attended to with a laser. I was told this week that this ophthalmologist came to see him a week ago, and is considering adopting him. Though I will miss him greatly, I know that she would make the perfect home for him. And as I brood about whether I could bring him home, all the time, and don't think it is a good idea, for a number of reasons, I would be so relieved. But then I'll never see him again. I'll be sad. But I'm hoping and praying it happens for him. He's in a cage all the time now, except when people like me take him out for a few minutes at a time. He needs a life.

Volunteering at the shelter is a lot of "work" emotionally. How good of you to pay for Big Papa to be neutered! My shelter does all that kind of thing for all animals, as well as all other medical needs, as they have a full-time vet and 4 techs, and operate a low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations clinic. But I spend over $100 a month on cat toys and also purchase other things for the shelter. All in all, the whole commitment takes a lot out of me. But, I have relationships with cats there that I can't deny, so I can't stop going.

Once Constantine is adopted, now or later, I'll be obsessing about someone else - the current #2, 3, and 4. That's how I ended up with 5 cats of my own.


Robin

Bless you both for all you do at your shelters. I know just how hard it can be to fall in love again and again and again.

It is so heartwarming to read about other cat lovers and the work they do at the shelters. So many of the long time resident cats at the shelter rely on our visits. They do get to know us volunteers and we develop deep friendships. It does break my heart for them but it is more important for me to spend time loving them, brushing them and making them feel that someone cares deeply for them then just not going at all because it is too hard on my heart. .