Breaking up is hard to do. I have made the comment in prior posts about foster fails, where I’ve intended to take an animal in until it can find a forever home, in those cases their is only cause for celebration when you realize you and your new friend were made for each other. But what about when you bring a four legged friend into your home only to discover that you’re not a match made in heaven? In relationships we sometimes fall hard and fast, maybe because we were feeling needy or had just experienced a loss or you were enamoured by someone’s good looks, but then comes the day when you realize things aren’t working out and a hard choice has to be made, to work on the relationship and get help or move on. I don’t think that people realize, this too can happen with our pets. We adopt a really cute dog from the shelter only to discover it’s an incessant barker or we bring another cat home to befriend the one we already have, only to create a problem where one cat starts peeing all over the house. You come to a place where you say, this isn’t working, I’ve been there, more times than I care to admit. We had adopted our cat Romeo, who healed my heart at a very difficult time when we’d lost one of our dogs. Awhile later we thought he could use a friend, we went to Kitty Kare and adopted Savanah, a big eyed girl, who when we met her at her foster home, seemed like such a sweetie. Well, life with Savvy, wasn’t as clear sailing as we would have hoped, she behaved like a Ninja warrior, attacking our old husky Nishka, she bullied Romeo at food time and hissed at us when we would get near her. For the woman, who used to be afraid of cats, this was a bit problematic. Romeo got very sick due to stress and none of us, including Savanah, seemed happy. So what do you do? We chose her, we’d made a commitment to her, but things were not working out, and just like in any relationship, sometimes you realize the only way to move forward is to go your separate ways. This being said, as humans, if we break up, we have choices, our pets do not. We are making choices on their behalf! It worries me in this day and age of Kijji and social media where we can buy and sell wanted and unwanted items, what can happen to our pets. You put an ad on Kijji to give away your dog, you talk to a few people and decide on a person and hand over Fido. This brings me back to, ‘you made a commitment’, one really has to take due diligence to make sure your cat isn’t going to become bait for a dog fight or your dog doesn’t get sold for animal research. You need to go see where your pet is going, you need to check in on them after you’ve adopted them out and you need to be willing to say if it doesn’t work out for you, I will take Fido back til we get things right. I got lucky with Missy and Smokey and found them awesome forever homes and as for Miss Savanah, I knew she just needed some time and to be an only cat, thankfully my daughter was moving out and was able to take her with her. The awesome part for all of us, Savannah is happy and I’ve watched her blossom into an entirely different cat, who no longer hisses at me. She comes to visit from time to time when my daughter is away, granted things aren’t perfect as she pees on my couch as a way of saying…this isn’t forever right? But we persevere and I know she’s safe and happy with my daughter. Breaking up is hard to do, just remember that the choices you make are the ones your pet has to LIVE with.
No Time To Paws 