Silent Victims

On the evening news a story was done about the silent victims of home foreclosures. Naturally, they are the pets. I've heard stories of them being abandoned in empty houses, left lose outside with the thought that they could get along OK (especially cats), only to be ostrasized by feral cats or taken to local shelters simply because they had no where else to go.

It's a sad situation and these animals are left confused and suffering from separation anxiety. Many of them are considered unadoptable because of their age. To add another nail, pet adoptions are down because people are so uncomfortable with the economy right now.

This is my little "owner surrender". It's been almost a month now since I first brought Tootsie home. She is learning, but yes, she had some issues she had to overcome before she could begin to function in this household. She still isn't as comfortable as you would think she'd be, but she's getting there.

Tootsie and Shalimar, my older cat, still have trust issues to get over, but most of the serious fighting has stopped now. Still, there are a couple of major spots to watch out for. One of those is the master bedroom. Shalimar will do fine with Tootsie in the room except that Tootsie, being a young cat, wants to play and unnerves Shalimar. Then you have the fights.

After talking to a pet hotline from a local no-kill adoption center, I decided to give Tootsie a full chance at becoming a family member. They told me that it could take as much as a year, maybe more for the cats to become friends but should reach a tenative stalemate by the end of 3 months. I was also told that from my discriptions, this could be a good match.

In this one month, this sweet little cat has made friends with the dog; is getting more comfortable with being in the house; fusses with Shalimar less and less. Still, she cries when you leave her alone for any short amount of time. She is always nearby, seeming to feel most comfortable when she can be with someone. She loves the windows, Shalimar's food, visits the community water bowl (the dog's water dish) regularily and finds Shalimar's self-cleaning litter box to be the "cat's meow"!

On the nights I let her out and about all night (mostly on weekends now in case the cats want to keep me up all night), I'll often find the bed toy ridden. Tootsie has her favorites and they are always on or in the bed. I keep a basket toy box of cat toys and I spend a good part of my early mornings locating and picking up the toys that are scattered about.

She's a sweet little cat and though it's taking much longer for the two of them to come to terms, I think this will work out for the best. I think she is a good match here. She still has some issues that we are working on, but she'll be fine. This little "owner-surrender" found a home.