By Jayn Corral
I fell in love with them the first day that I met them, and my heart broke. They were wonderful, happy, well-cared-for cats until one day they found themselves scared and depressed, in an unfamiliar setting at a shelter, sharing space with many other cats. Death, especially an untimely death, can be cruel and devastating for those the deceased leaves behind.
As we grow older, especially as we enter into retirement, we tend to think about creating or updating our will so that our property, special mementos, investments, and paperwork are in order to ensure that our wishes will be carried out by those in charge of such things. I wonder how many of us have made arrangements for our pets for when we die or can no longer care for them.
Let me back up. Brothers Maximillian and Oliver were adopted together as kittens almost four years ago to a very qualified, young, and caring adopter. They grew up feeling safe and loved in their home and enjoyed each other’s company. Life was great until it wasn’t. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the owner passed away. Sadly, he had made no provisions for his feline family.
If you don’t make a plan for your pets for when you are not able to take care of them, what is their fate? Will a friend or neighbor take them? Will someone respond to a plea to adopt them? If those things don’t happen, will they be abandoned as someone else’s problem or left to fend for themselves? A cat that has lived its entire life domesticated indoors has little chance of surviving on its own. The many unthinkable things that could happen and the trauma the cat experiences are horrible. All because we did not plan for their future after we are gone or not able to care for them.
Fortunately, maybe amazingly, the SPA was in a position to accept Maximillian and Oliver. Even more astonishing is that they have already been adopted by a loving family. The SPA has to protect our resident cats and kittens, and there are limits to how many cats we can accept; adoptions, especially of adult cats, don’t usually happen so quickly. The stars were right for Maximillian and Oliver.
When you adopt a pet, it should be for their lifetime. It is your responsibility to ensure them a good life for as long as they live. Take a few minutes to ensure that they do not suffer from drastic and jarring changes to their lives.
Cats available for adoption at the SPA are shown on our website, www.spasanmiguel.org/adopt-me-cats. Our adoption fee is only 600 pesos and, for cats, includes sterilization, all current vaccinations, deworming, the feline leukemia/FIV test, and the feline leukemia vaccine and booster. Adoption hours are 11-2, Monday-Saturday, at Los Pinos 7, 415 152 6124. Please note that only one person may enter the SPA for an adoption interview. That person must wear a mask and stay at least 6 feet away from SPA personnel.
