Thinking about 
the animals

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In response to the article in the paper on Feb.4, I would like to point out an alternate point of view, and a incident I had with this place of business.

A few years ago, we wanted to adopt a few cats. I live on a farm and have always had cats. When my kids and I went to the shelter, we found two nice kitties that we wished to adopt. It was a difficult decision because as we sat down in one of the cat rooms, we immediately had at least 20 cats trying to get into our laps. Some of the cats wanted love; some were standoffish; and some huddled in the corner, clearly unhappy about their present living arrangements. Their coats showed signs of stress, and some cats hunkered up next to screened windows, breathing in the fresh air coming from outside.

The Friends of Strays director is very much a “hands on” kind of business manager of her place of business. I had to fill out an application form. When she found out that I was planning on having the cats be both inside and outside, she refused to let me adopt the cats. She told me that cats have no business being outside because of the threat of predators and traffic. While her points have validity, I was amazed that she would rather have cats be crowded into rooms, stressing about the conditions, sharing litter boxes and crying out for attention, instead of letting citizens adopt the cats.

I only have two cats at time. I vaccinate my cats, neuter them, feed them high quality cat food and nurture them. They are very much a part of our family, and anyone who knows me can testify that I am an animal lover who definitely looks out for the welfare of my cats. When we’re outside, the cats follow us like dogs and are quite happy to cuddle. True, the cats are free to roam. However, they have a warm place in the garage to sleep, come for visits inside for cuddling, and when it is cold, I install heat lamps and give them heated water. The cats I own are hunters and roam the timbers in search of birds and mice. If we don’t see them every day, I go looking for them. It isn’t like I just get a couple of mousers and throw food out to them every once in a while when I think about it.

I was aghast. Apparently it is better to be overrun with cats than to let citizens adopt the animals, even if they aren’t in the perfect conditions.

Nora Kelly

Tampico

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