My beautiful little kitty was just four months old when she was trapped and taken to the awful, high-kill shelter. The reason? She was a stray.
She lives with me now, and she will never see the inside of a cage on death row again. But not all cats are so lucky. These are the most common reasons for giving cats up to shelters.
- “The cat was a stray I rescued, but I can’t/don’t want to keep it.”
- “My new partner (baby, child) is allergic, and no we won’t do allergy shots.”
- “He won’t use the litter box. He hasn’t for years, and we’ve tried everything.”
- “We’re moving and can’t/don’t want to take the cat.”
- “She’s diabetic, and we can’t/don’t want to/can’t afford to give her insulin twice a day.”
- “He doesn’t like the new baby and is acting out.”
- “He doesn’t like the new puppy and is acting out.”
- “He was my mother’s cat. And no, no one in my family will give him a home, even though he was her closest companion for 16 years.
If you find a cat you don’t want to keep, can’t take your cat with you when you move, don’t want anything to do with your now-deceased parents’ beloved cat, have a family member who develops allergies suddenly, or add a puppy to your family, keep this in mind: Cats who go to kill shelters rarely come out alive. It is always preferable to find a method to keep the cat. If that isn’t an option, there are always alternatives to kill shelters. You only have to be willing to put up the effort to locate them.