onaveridiansea:trickstersgambit:kedreeva:8bitrevolver:This was meant to be a quick warm up,
onaveridiansea: trickstersgambit: kedreeva: 8bitrevolver: This was meant to be a quick warm up, but it turned into a comic that I’ve wanted to draw for a while. This is something that is extremely important to me, and I appreciate it if you read it. A while ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A family went a cat shelter to adopt. The daughter fell in love with a 3-legged cat. The father straight up said “absolutely not”. Because he was missing a leg. That cat was that close to having a family that loved him, but the missing leg held him back. Why?! Many people have the initial instinct of “nope” when they see an imperfect animal. I get it, but less-adoptable does NOT mean less loveable. 9 out of 10 people will choose a kitten over an adult cat. And those 10% that would get an adult cat often overlook “different” animals. All I want people to do is be open to the idea of having a “different” pet in their lives. Choose the pet that you fall in love with, but at least give all of them a fair shot at winning your heart. Don’t dismiss them, they deserve a loving home just as much as any other cat. They still purr, they still love a warm lap, they still play, they still love you. Trust me, next time you are in the market for a new kitty, just go over to that one cat that’s missing an eye and see what he’s all about! Let me tell to you a thing. This is Lenore. I first saw her in a little cage at the Petco I frequent (I used to take my parents’ dog in for puppy play time), and she looked like the grouchiest, old, crotchety cat in the world, and I fell instantly in love. She was cranky, she was anti-social, hanging out at the back of her cage. Her fur was matted because she wouldn’t let the groomers near her. She was perfect. But I didn’t have a place for her. I wasn’t living in my own space yet, and where I was, I wasn’t allowed cats. So I pressed my face to the bars of her cage and I promised that if no one had adopted her by the time I’d bought a house, I would come back for her. I visited her every week for over six months while I looked for a house. At one point, they had to just shave her entire rear-end because the mats or fur were so bad. They told me she clawed the heck outta the groomer that did it, screamed the entire time, and spent the next two days growling at anyone that came near the cage. A couple of weeks later, I closed on my house. I went back and I got an employee, and I said: “That one. I need that cat.” They got the paperwork and the lady who ran the rescue that was bringing the cats in told me that Lenore (at the time, Lila) was 8 years old, had been owned by an elderly lady who had died, and brought in to a different rescue, who’d had her for six months on top of the time I’d been seeing her at Petco. This kitty had been living in a 3x3’ cube for over a YEAR because she was older and “less adoptable.” I signed the paperwork, put her in a cat carrier, and drove her to my new home. I had pretty much nothing; a bed, an old couch, a couple of bookcases, and a tank of mice I called “Cat TV”. I let her out of the carrier and onto my bed, and I told her “I told you I would come back for you when I had a place. It’s not much, but it’s yours too now.” Lenore spent the next three days straight purring non-stop. She followed me around the house purring. Sat next to me purring. Slept next to me purring. Leaning into every touch, purring, purring, always purring. She still purrs if you so much as think about petting her. She’s amazing, and I love her. So, you know, if you’re thinking about adopting, and you see a beast that others consider “less adoptable,” think about Lenore. My cat Jelly Bean turns eleven this year. He was given to me as a nine year old cat. I volunteered to take him in from a family member but it didn’t wind up happening in the time frame I was hoping it would so I set my eyes on a kitten because I *really* wanted a cat. Within a week my surrogate grandma and a cousin (who was part of Bean’s previous family) brought Bean to me with a free feeding bowl and a bag of kibble. Originally his stay with me was going to be a trial run. I wasn’t too experienced with cats on my own and taking care of an animal is a HUGE responsibility and I’m disabled so we weren’t too dead set on it working out. A month into his stay with me i started having seizures that put me on the ground or resulted in major injuries. Bean, without prompting or training, started to learn the symptoms of an oncoming seizure and would trail me around the house shouting when one was coming on, and lead me to bed, then sit on me. You see Bean was already accustomed to taking care of people who need a little extra care. He had very few behavioral issues and we worked together to ensure he slowed down on the food intake and played a little more to get his weight down (he’s still fat but he’s active and that’s great) One year later we found out he had a major medical issue and we had to work out how to accommodate that going forward but its doable and now we take care of each others medical needs. What I’m saying is Bean was prepared to help me, and didn’t present major obsticals in our day to day life. He didn’t need extra training and he’s even teaching my roommates kitten how to be a caregiver. A kitten, on its own, would have required training and might have exacerbated my condition with the stress that comes with teaching a cat not to chew on a plant or knock over something breakable. Older cats already know how to handle people. Their personalities are “what you see is what you get”. They’re already themselves. Get an adult cat for your first cat. They’re already everything they’re going to be. Older cats already know how to handle people. They’re already themselves. -- source link
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