Disposable pets

We have three cats, all adopted. One was surrendered, one abandoned, and the last was disposed.

Angel was surrendered to a no-kill animal rescue agency, along with her brother, when their owner fell on hard times and couldn't afford to take care of them. It stinks but I understand that. And if anyone surrendered their black and white kitten Angelica to a shelter just east of Toronto, one that services Paws and Claws, she's a happy, healthy almost seven year old cat now (we picked Valentine's Day for her birthday) and is currently curled up snoozing on the couch.

I feel anger when I think of Blackie. Her previous owners left her behind in a shed when they moved. She was just a kitten when we adopted her at eleven months old and she'd obviously been malnourished. Her leg bones are bowed and she's got the oddest walk (which is not helped by her current pot belly). I can't understand and don't want to understand the mentality of someone who would lock a kitten up and abandon her to possibly starve to death.

It's Oreo that has me baffled. We had neighbours who lived across the hallway from us when my children were smaller. They moved in with two older cats and, shortly after we adopted Blackie, they picked Oreo out of a box of "free kittens".

A few months later they decided to move in with a family member who did not want three cats in his home. The Mom was deciding which cat to take to the shelter when I volunteered to take one. This came at the perfect time for us because my children's father (and his girlfriend) had promised the kids a kitten from the litter their cat was going to have. That litter never arrived and the kids were heartbroken they weren't going to get their kitten. Oreo, still a kitten at the time, was just what they were looking for.

A few weeks later the neighbours had a dog, given to them through the family grapevine. Someone's grandmother died, leaving behind an elderly dog. Daughter was disappointed, positive that if we'd waited a few weeks, we would have been given the dog instead of Oreo. I reminded her repeatedly that a) we'd never been offered the dog and b) we had Oreo and why would she trade him for any animal. Daughter was ticked to discover they gave the dog away to someone else shortly after moving due to bathroom issues.

A few years went by then there was a flurry of excitement on Facebook because they were getting a puppy. They'd been looking for ages and found the perfect puppy for their family. Then came the adorable puppy and child pictures. I asked how the cats were getting along with the puppy and got the response of "we got rid of the cats several months ago". Got rid of the cats who were around eight years old at the time.

A short while later she was posting saying she was going to look for a new home for her puppy soon if he didn't stop barking at the vacuum cleaner then wetting in terror. I suggested puppy training classes and provided links to local ones. She responded saying that despite months of looking for the "perfect puppy", she had not once looked into the breed. Apparently anxiety and wetting issues were common. She also refused to look into puppy training classes because hopefully the puppy would outgrow these issues.

I got blocked when I replied the shelters are already full of dogs who didn't outgrow anxiety issues and poor bathroom habits then reposted the training class links. This was at least half a year ago so I'm sure little Coco has been passed along to another family and they've moved on to yet another "perfect pet". We adopted Oreo five years ago this April. In those five years they have gotten rid of three cats and two dogs that I know of. I haven't spoken to them since last summer so who knows if they've gone through another perfect pet since then.

I woke up this morning to find Oreo snuggled against me again, his head nestled on my arm, his legs sprawled, his eyes watching mine... eager for me to wake and rub his tummy. He rolled around on the bed when he realized I was awake, licking my nose and wriggling so I could reach every part of his tummy. Son came into my room before bed last night so I could read him part of my novel. When he left to brush his teeth, he patted his leg and said "Come Oreo, it's tooth brushing time" and Oreo jumped off the bed and trotted along behind. My daughter insists he's a dog disguised as a cat.

I don't think of that family often but every once in a while Oreo will do something completely adorable and completely him and I wonder if they know what they're missing. How do you pick out a pet, promise to care for it, then give it away? How can you love and care for an animal for months or years and then pass it along and forget about it? One child used to ask my daughter and I about Oreo. "He's my Oreo" she'd insist to my daughter. Her mother never asked. Do her other children ever wonder about the pets they no longer own? Will they grow up to care for their own pets or will they grow up to see pets as nothing more than toys? Something to enjoy for a time and pass on once they're "boring".

Sure, I'm the one who gets to deal with the not fun stuff. Oreo very likely has FIV. I know it's not as easily transmitted as I was told when we first adopted him but I can't help but wonder if my other two cats have it as well. And Oreo has allergies, which means they get expensive cat food. We're eating lentils, rice, and pasta while the cats dine on smoked salmon and trout.

But then he walks up beside me, demanding attention, and closes his eyes in ecstasy as I scratch his forehead right above the eyes. His purr deepens, he grabs my hand with both paws and maneuvers it for a chest rub. He stares at me and my heart melts and I wonder once again if they ever know what they threw away.

Cats and Dreams

I have a reoccurring dream. In it, something wonderful is happening, something rare that I want to take a picture of. I find my camera, focus, and hit the button. But the camera just won't take the picture. Seconds pass and the opportunity fades. By the time the camera will actually take the picture, the shot is gone.

Last night I dreamt I was standing in my living room talking to my Mom on the phone, when I looked out the window and noticed we were having a lunar eclipse. I ran and grabbed my camera, only to realize the eclipse was happening super quickly and would be over within seconds. I snapped a picture right away, knowing I wouldn't have time to change the settings and knowing the picture wouldn't turn out, then raced to get the camera on the right settings... in vain. I got the camera set just in time for the moon to go back to normal. Normal still looked pretty neat so I snapped a couple of photos anyways. When I went back to view my photos, I discovered my first photo turned out amazing. I'd got the shot I wanted, even though I worried I hadn't.

That's life. Sometimes you try your hardest only to watch an opportunity slip away, despite your best efforts. And sometimes, when you least expect it, the opportunity you thought slipped away turns out to be there after all. I love surprises like that.

I also wish that picture existed because it was an amazing shot. But considering it was a cross between a lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse, and something off SuperMario Galaxy, I don't think even Googling would come up with something similar.

I woke up around 1am to find our cat Blackie snuggled up beside me. I had my arm stretched beside me and she was using my upper arm as a pillow while she purred like an outboard motor and gave my arm a lick every few seconds.

Blackie can be needy at the best of times but this was beyond her usual needy behaviour. She was so happy to see me, but me being in bed asleep in the middle of the night isn't exactly an unusual occurrence. Then it dawned on me. The last time she'd ever seen people packing for a move would have been with her previous owners, the ones who locked her in a shed and left her behind. Even though I couldn't sleep through her "OMG my Mommy is still here!" snugglefest, I let her cuddle and purr for about 10 minutes before rolling over and giving my arm a break. So far Oreo is oblivious to the move and Angel thinks the boxes are an amazing jungle gym. But neither of them were abandoned like Blackie. In three more weeks we'll already be in our new place and she'll have lots of new corners to explore.

Murder presents

I have three cats, the youngest is Oreo. He is the goofball of the three, as you can see from his picture. He routinely sleeps on his back with all four paws in the air. He was stretching and yawning in this picture, I love the shot because I think it looks like he's singing opera.

Out of the three cats, Oreo is our cat most likely to hunt mice. He comes from a family of barn cats so I guess that's to be expected. What's less expected is that we'd get any mice here. We live in a high rise apartment building and not on the first floor. And we've lived here for 7 years without seeing any mice other than the ones attached to our computer... until this summer at least.

I was in the bathroom in August and Oreo was staring, rather intently, at the litter box. I figured there was a bug of some sort behind it. Probably a big one like a beetle, or even a spider. I moved the box so he could kill it and discovered there was a mouse crouched behind the box. Neither Oreo or I caught that mouse then as it quickly bolted under the bathroom vanity.

A day later I noticed my bedside mat had a lump underneath it. I figured it was a crumpled Kleenex (the garbage can was right near the lump). It was a very flat mouse. My guess was that Oreo crouched, waiting for the mouse to appear... on the mouse.

A week or so later I was woken up, on my day off, by Oreo and Blackie stalking around my bedroom. They were trying to paw behind my filing cabinet. After I went into the living room they moved to the front hall closet. Then Oreo walked toward me with a tail hanging out of his mouth. I took the tail and told him to "drop it". Thankfully he did. Even more thankfully, there was a mouse attached to the tail and said mouse was alive.

Son and I took the mouse to the greenspace across the road and released it. Said road is a minor highway... I don't think that particular mouse is coming back.

We didn't see signs of any more mice after that so I figured we were done with them. Then last night rolled around. I walked into my bedroom and found another very flat mouse on my floor. Very flat and very dead. It appears Oreo is giving me some special presents...

Picture is from here

Although to be honest, considering the flatness of the poor things, I'm not sure if Oreo's trying to kill them or he's just snuggling them to death.