...we are becoming the "Spencer Home for Aging Cats." This is Miles. He is one of the two cats I accepted from a neighbor today. He is fourteen or so, quite friendly, and he needs a bit of dental work.
This is Gunsmoke. He is a passionately friendly cat...with a serious ear problem. I thought at first he just had crinkled up ears from old hematomas. I'm sure that's what his caretakers probably thought as well. But when I got a closer look at them, I could see he has a long-term ear mite infection that has caused infection and thickening of the ear. The crinkle will be permanent and there may be fluid in there that needs to be removed. Those mites need to go, and I can't do it myself. I usually like cleaning ears (it's pretty satisfying to help them shake that junk out). But this is beyond me. He's going to need to go under anesthesia for a vet to take a look down there. When I tried to gently flush one ear, he let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't putting up with any of THAT, thank you!
They have settled in pretty well, and both have found their purr.
I still haven't seriously made arrangements for my cats if something should happen to me, or to both Mark and I. I should probably put out feelers and compile a list of friends and past adopters who might be willing to take one cat should something ever happen. My own family is pretty much at cat-capacity. I've agreed to take my mom's cats should she be unable to care for them, and of course I would take my sister's in an emergency. But neither one of them can take 24 cats if something should happen on this end.
7 comments:
I'm worried about what might happen to our pets as well should anything happen to us, and I know we need to make emergency arrangements sooner rather than later. I think family would take in our small dogs, but I know we'd have trouble finding friends or family to take our cats and our parrots.
You know, a "cat retirement home" isn't a bad non-profit business plan - perhaps these cats are trying to send you a message ;-)
I've heard of no-kill pet retirement homes- you bequeath them a minimal amount per cat, and they take care of the cat for the rest of its natural life. But unfortunately, I do not know of any first hand so well I could call one.
Feel free to add me to the list of willing to take one your pets, Susan. I'll take whomever is oldest, because they are often hardest to find a home for. No small children here, and no pets under the age of 5.
Hey, georg, I'll put you on my list! Fate's willing, your phone won't ring, but I'm sure my husband would rest easier knowing there were twenty-some people he might call who might pick out one of these guys in an emergency.
Leigh-ann, you might want to contact a bird rescue sooner rather than later, to see if they would take your birds with a bequest, if for some reason family members couldn't take them. You would want to visit ahead of time to see what the program was like. If you go to www.petfinder.com you can search for shelters by state, or you can just do a search for parrots for adoption, and you'll be able to see places that are adopting parrots now (watch out though, because you might get sucked into parrot rescue!)
Hey Gunsmoke looks like me. I never gave much thought to the issue of what would happen to Ariel if something were to happen to me.I guess I would have to ask my friends.I hate to think about it though it makes me sad. I love my fur baby and can't imagine my life without her in it.
Susan, I *am* practically parrot rescue already -- of our six birds, four are rescues, and we actually had six rescues originally but two have since passed on. I'd consider taking on more in an extreme emergency, but it's tough to keep the dust levels down and the place clean with the number I have. One cockatoo stirs up an incredible amount of feather dust, even with daily bathing.
Believe it or not, there's a large bird rescue/sanctuary that I can see from my back window...it's less than a quarter of a mile away from our house. I don't care for the place, though. The owners seem to make some bad business decisions, and I always see the birds' dishes filled with sunflower seeds. I don't feed my birds any seed at all because of dietary issues, so you're right, a visit is definitely necessary to determine if a facility "feels right". I know of the Oasis sanctuary in Arizona and the Gabriel foundation in Colorado, so perhaps I will check and see if they have programs where I could sign up.
When we got our pets, I made a pet power of attorney and sent it to the friends we decided we wanted to care for our pets. They were the only ones that would take them all, thus allowing all of 'em to stay together. I also sent a copy to the vet and the pet sitter.
When we moved, I updated it all and sent it to everyone involved. It's not something we went to a lawyer for, I just did it up on my computer and mailed it out.
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