Catching flies with chopsticks

It was a hot sticky morning just like this when we found George. We had hit the point in my daughters' pregnancy when our power hikes had shifted to sedate strolls .... which as it turns out was a very good thing for George because otherwise we might have missed the little squeaks we heard in the woods.
A couple of quick calls verified what we already suspected, that he was 'nobody's baby' ... at least not from our neck of the woods.
Looking at his handsome fifteen pound self now, its hard to imagine that when we first met George he could fit in my hand. He was all ears and eyes and feet and already full of that tabby cat charm.
We took him out to the workshop .... even though statistically the odds were against him being infected or a carrier it was still better to be safe than sorry. Happily my vet was able to squeeze him in right away and even happier his test was just fine and the rest was history. We named him George because even then he was as sweet as the character in Grey's Anatomy.
To this day, I wake up looking like Edward Scissorhands because George shares my pillow and 'fluffs up' my hair ( the subject of how people can take kittens from their mothers too soon is as much of a separate rant as the issue of dumping defenseless kittens along a country byway frequented by gravel trucks and bordered by woods full of predators )
So why didn't my daughter take him home? Was it because she was expecting? No, it was because she was already in the process of helping their three year old kitty adjust to the changes in their life that the new baby would bring.
Instead of putting Eddy on Kijiji, my daughter and her hubby had already shifted the 'spare room' paraphernalia to the basement bedroom. Long before Lydia arrived, Eddy knew that her room would be off limits to him. How did they do that? It wasn't expensive and it wasn't a big deal. They closed the nursery door at night and when they were out. When the door was open, anytime Eddy went in, they simply picked him up, told him no and took him to find one of his toys.
When the big day arrived, every time I went up to visit, I brought back a receiving blanket and left it on the coffee table for Eddy to investigate. Cats are pretty scent oriented and so when Lydia did come home she wasn't a complete stranger to Eddy.
There was a short space of time while the bedside cradle was in the master bedroom when Eddy couldn't sleep in there ..... but if he could talk I'm betting he thought that temporarily sleeping on the couch was still a better option being tossed away like an old sock.
When my son in law was posted to Ontario last summer, there was never any question about whether Eddy would come. My daughter found out firsthand as a child that pets could travel. Reservations were made at pet friendly hotels, a new and more spacious cat carrier was picked up and off they went.
Eddy sang all the way there. For the whole trip. But ... once again ... if he could talk ... he would tell you that it was better to sing the blues than to be a five year old cat left behind in a province with hundreds of homeless cats.
The point I am making here in my rambling way is that no matter how it is sugar coated, it is not to the pets benefit to be left adrift because of life events. In the space of our lives, most of us will move a time or two. Some of us will have children, while others will wind up caring for parents.
We have life events because life is meant to be lived. The choices we make on the journey don't just define us, they lay the groundwork for the people our children will become.
This year on the homeless pet site, I'm trying to find interesting ways to promote pet adoption. There was Adopt a Senior Pet Month in November, a Christmas feature, a Fall in Love bit for Valentines, St Catricks Day, Earth Day, Mothers Day and June has been Adopt a Shelter Cat Month.
A Christmas in July bit is in the works and I really have visions of sugarplums in my head about the potential for this. One group has already risen to the occasion and is planning to use the theme for their July open house and adoption fair. Another group is thinking of doing the same thing for their fundraiser and adoption fair.
Good gracious .... it could even evolve into an (ahem) week for the animals around the province: )))
If there is one thing that I learned during the years I taught at the military cooking school it is that people just learn more when they are having fun. Christmas in July offers the opportunity to reach out to the mainstream ... to all those good kind pet loving people who DON'T visit any of the rescue or animal welfare sites.
Even this middle aged granny can see that the new NDP government's intended frugality may not hold a lot of promise for getting much humane education into the schools. Christmas in July could be a great way to 'take it to the streets'
And of course, it would just be a wonderful way to promote pet adoption because of course people's homes are not engaged in all the hoopla of the actual holiday season.
Advertisers use humour because it gets attention. Outside of some short term satisfaction, scolding irresponsible pet owners really doesn't change the picture for the animals.
When I was doing site updates today, there were 61 dogs listed on the various petfinder and rescue sites in NS.... which of course means that there are easily 400 + homeless cats as well.
What time is it? With over 350,000 households in Nova Scotia, we already have enough homes for the animals. Its time to stop 'catching flies with chopsticks' and entice some of these folks into the responsible and animal loving community with a little fun.