June Is Adopt A Cat Month

Howard

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a crazy cat lady.  I feel no shame, and actually proudly proclaim my title.  I love cats.  Always have.  Always will.  We currently have four cats (Howard, Milo, Frankie, and Tara) which seems to be our limit for the moment.  All four of them are rescues, and I like to think that we’re giving them all a pretty good life. 

Frankie

Unfortunately, not all cats who wind up in shelters are as fortunate as our quirky quartet. 2012 statistics show that 70% of cats in shelters are euthanized.  That number is really high, and really scary, especially when you think about the fact that so many of those cats are perfectly healthy, adoptable cats.  There just wasn’t a place for them. 

Milo

Fortunately, June is Adopt A Cat Month!   A month all about adopting your very own feline companion or two!  Shelters are full of cats and kittens of all ages, colors, and personalities just waiting for their very own homes. 

Marta - a cat we fostered

In honor of June being Adopt A Cat Month, I am planning to give my blog over to cats for the entire month of June, and I’m hoping for your help and participation.  I’m also offering a prize to encourage participation and further help the kitties.  I want to feature rescues and shelters, and maybe some stories of rescued cats, and I’m looking for guest posts to do this.  Is there a cat in your local shelter who has been there too long?  Is your shelter trying to raise money to build/expand/improve their cat area?  Are you a rescue looking for volunteers for transports, foster homes, etc.?  Are you trying to place a special needs cat?  Does your area have a spay/neuter program in place for cats?  Are you a rescuer who has found an effective way to make the shelter/adoption process less stressful for cats?  I’d love to have your blog post on it.

Here are the rules:

1.       Absolutely NO cats and/or kittens for sale, NOTHING from breeders.  I am a FIRM believer in “adopt don’t shop”!

2.       You must send a link for the shelter or rescue the cat is from or that the story is about.  The link will be included in the post.

3.       Please include a link to Sweet Tea Reads on your regular blog, (you’re not required to have a blog to participate) if you have one, on the day that your post is scheduled to appear. 

4.       All posts and pictures must be received by Friday, May 23, 2014.  Please send them to dlzecher@gmail.com.  Once I get them all scheduled I will email you with the date that your post will appear.  I cannot guarantee the acceptance of all posts, but I will respond to all entries, and post updates as to the number of spaces left, etc. 

5.  Please keep an eye on your guest post to respond to comments and any questions about your cat, shelter, etc.  You're in a better position to answer specific questions than I am.  

Let’s use the power of Blogger for the good of cats during the month of June.  Maybe, with a little luck, we can get the right cat (cats) seen by the right person (people).  Crazy cat people unite! 

Tara

Now, on to the prize.  Every rescue or shelter (must be a non-profit organization) featured in a post will be entered into a drawing for a $25.00 donation from me.  Multiple posts featuring the same place will result in multiple entries.  I will announce the winner on Tuesday, July 1, 2014. 

Please be patient with me, as this will be my first experience with guest posts.  If something isn’t clear or just doesn’t make sense, please ask in the comments, and I’ll do my best to improve things.  Let’s keep this fun and in the spirit of helping cats. 

You Might Be A Crazy Cat Lady If...

Hi, my name is Danielle, and I’m a crazy cat lady.  There. I’ve said it.  I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with being a crazy cat lady.  Someone has to be, right?

And I really, really love cats.  I’ve had them my whole life.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I might have ended up on a doorstep someplace if my parents’ cat hadn’t approved when they brought me home.  Fortunately, he decided I was tolerable.

For most of my life, we’ve had more than one cat.  They’re kind of like potato chips; you really can’t have just one.  So it seems normal to me to have a multi-cat household.  I’ve grown accustomed to the raised eyebrows and dropped jaws when people find out we have four cats.  (I’d like to take this opportunity, however, to point out the cats will never ask for their own bedroom, to drive the car, or to go to college, they don’t need braces or glasses, you never have to take them to soccer/ballet/piano lessons, and when they hit puberty, you get to spay or neuter them.  Just saying.)

I will admit that if it weren’t for my husband being the voice of reason, the cuteness of cats, and the sometimes terrible, terrible stories that accompany them would probably lead to me having a lot more than four cats.  We’re well-matched in that way, I guess.

I recently found out that my husband apparently harbors a secret fear that my crazy cat lady status may one day drown out his voice of reason when we had this conversation:

Nick: "Do we have a new kitten?"
Me: "No. Why? Do you want a new kitten?"
Nick: "NO! Are you sure? I must have dreamed it, but I was sure I saw a new kitten running around our house, and when I tried to catch it you said, 'Oh, don't worry. That's Pistachio, our new kitten.' We really don't have a new kitten?"
Me: "Of course not. I at least tell you before I bring home a new fur kid. Do you think that dream means you want a kitten?"
Nick: "NO!" while giving me suspicious looks and glancing around as though as he half expects to see a new kitten.

We really don’t have a new kitten.  Honestly, I haven’t even been pestering him with stories of one particular kitten in need of a home.  I’m not sure where that all came from, except that I must be an even crazier cat lady than I realized.  You must be a crazy cat lady if your husband dreams of you bringing home a cat, right?