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All Animals Should Be Adopted
I am a soldier in the United States Army. I was recently deployed for a 13 month tour overseas. Upon my return, I knew I was coming back to an empty apartment, so I decided that I wanted a couple of cats to keep me company ... companionship. I visited the Adkins Pet Center Adoption Site on the internet from word of mouth of a friend. I immediately fell in love with two cats that I saw, Miss Kitty, a 16 pound furball of a cat and Jekyll, a slender, sleek, all black cat with white toes on his back feet. Both of these cats were labled as being hard to find an adoptive home for them for various reasons. Miss Kitty is a 5 year old cat, 16 pounds, and had a obsessive compulsive grooming illness. Jekyll is a younger cat, but as a kitten had broken his back left leg. As a result, he now has one stiff leg that never bends, it kind of reminds you of a peg leg on a pirate. With these injuries and illness and age, no one thought that these cats would ever go to a good home. However, after I fell in love with there pictures, I knew they were coming home with me, even with their problems. This was the best decision that I have ever made. Miss Kitty no longer suffers from her illness. I was able to wean her off her medicine for the obsessive grooming and she is loving her new home. She is still a "bigger" cat but she is more loveable than I could have imagined. She makes sure that when I go to bed at night she is the first one in the room getting the bed warm for me. She knows right where to go when the lights go out at night. Jekyll is also doing great. I have never seen anything with a permanent injury like that move so fast. Jekyll has more energy than even I do. When he gets in his playful mood, he will run around the house forever chasing his toys and whatever else I have here to play with. And never fear, having a stiff leg doesn't hinder his climbing and jumping skills, he makes it to the top of the cat tree in one leap.
A special note about cats which I learned because of Jekyll, never let them know where you keep their cat treats. Jekyll will follow me into the kitchen and wait, pawing at the cupboard that I keep the treats in until I finally break down and give him one. These cats are really like my kids. When I get home at the end of the day, the two of them come running to the door as soon as they hear the key in the lock. Both of them make sure they are always in the same room with me, either sitting next to me on the couch or curled up at my feet. I would never give them up for anything. So, the moral of this story is ... when you decide that it is time for you to have a pet, don't let injury or illness effect your decision on which animal you choose. They will still love you as much as you love them regardless of injury or illness, (and they can get better in a new home), and they make some of the best companions to come home to at the end of a hard day. Injured or ill, animals can be your best friend if you just let them in.
Bradford T.
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