To senior pets: ‘Grow old along with me!’

Yes, I know: It can seem as if practically every week is “national (whatever) week,” and you’re expected to do something about it -- eat ice cream, join a walkathon, get your eyes checked. . . !  And all that’s before the animal-related weeks -- take your cat to the vet, appreciate pit bulls, microchip your pet.  

We “animal people” take those weeks -- or months -- more seriously, of course.  If we don’t do the right thing for animals, who will?

OK, then, here’s a real biggie: November is “national adopt a senior pet month.”  This one reflects a serious need that many of us, all also getting older by the day, can recognize and help with.

 

Older animals in shelters often had families, once, but for various reasons, they don’t have them now.  So at an especially vulnerable time in their lives, they miss the unbeatable comforts of care and togetherness.  And love.

To be old and alone -- and in need -- is frightening for people and pets alike.  To have lived a long life and then to be alone toward the end of it -- sometimes cruelly described as “the golden years” -- is a sad, sad fate.

Worse, older animals in some shelters are often the most likely candidates for euthanasia.  That would be the “most unkindest cut of all.”

Adopting a cute puppy or kitten is easy.  Baby animals are all about charming people into loving and caring for them.  And adopting a senior pet also benefits everyone involved, starting with the adopter or family, knowing that an animal who needed a loving home now has one.  Such adopters deserve the satisfaction they feel.

In adopting an older pet, people get still more.  That starts with bringing home a grown up whose personality is formed and visible -- no need to wonder about temperament.  One promo for November adoptions of seniors says, “It takes a long time to get this sweet.”  How very true.

It’s sometimes claimed that older pets are tangibly grateful after they’re adopted.  I doubt that.  Rewarding as it may sound, it’s really not necessary, and what’s being described may simply be the animal’s happiness at having a home.  That’s enough! 

The many more benefits of adopting senior pets include their being “settled in their ways,” which is good news for people like that.  Also: possibly no need for training because older dogs and cats have been there; they know the drill.  And of course, all the shots of kitten- and puppyhood were taken care of long ago, as were spaying or neutering. 

Their earlier life experiences might have made older pets better able to fit in with other household pets, and people, for less drama during the transition period. 

It’s been said that adopting older pets gives them “a chance to feel cherished and secure during the time they have left.”   Isn’t that what all of us want?

‘. . . the best is yet to be’

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Your comments -- particularly about adopting senior pets -- are always welcome at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.