Mature feline beauties seek loving homes

           Suki                     Easel pic

Time is running out.  Your chance to adopt an older female cat during “Adopt a senior pet month” ends this Tuesday, Nov. 30.  That grown-up female feline of your dreams has already missed celebrating Thanksgiving with you, but you can still bring her home in time for the other fall-winter holidays and then many happy new years.

Just imagine a mature beauty who already knows the ropes moving in with you.  She’ll be in cat heaven, grateful to be in a warm, loving home once more, and she’s likely to treat you like the hero she believes you are.

All you have to do is decide to adopt a senior cat, then go find her and invite her home with you.  The first place to look might be EASEL Animal Rescue League, in Ewing, Mercer County.  There, among others, you can consider these three beautiful felines “of a certain age”:  Dora, Momo and Suki.

Here’s how EASEL staffers describe each one:

Dora is a 6-year who was transferred from Philly.  She's a friendly medium-size dilute torti looking for her forever family.  She loves to be petted and get love from all our volunteers.  Dora’s a girl you could snuggle with all night long!

               Dora                       Easel pic

Next come Momo and Suki, 14-year-old sisters who were surrendered to the shelter because a family member with allergies was moving into their home.  Both darling long-haired cats (Momo’s gray, while Suki’s a tabby), they’re ready to enjoy their golden years in a loving home.  

As with other senior cats, you might regard these 3 lovely felines as “not older, but better.”  After all, adult cats are simply kittens who came into their own and now show what they’re made of, so there’s no mystery: what you see is what you get.  Often, these veterans are already used to domesticity and the rules of the game, and they’re delighted and grateful to be back in that comfortable setting.  

EASEL’s attractive website details virtually everything you’d need to know about the organization and the animals in its care, including adoption/foster specs and adoption center hours.  For cats 1-7 years old, the adoption fee is $100, and for cats 8 or older, it’s $50 -- tiny outlays for giant returns. https://www.easelnj.org/adopt/#eadopt.

For cats and people alike, one saying has it right: “We’re never too old to love and be loved.”  In fact, older people and felines are sometimes thought to need that love more than anyone else.  

                           Suki & Momo            Easel pic               

Mature people might adopt mature animals because they’re older too, and both need love and a reason for being.  Further, grown-up cats could be just right for those who work during the day or enjoy retirement at home.

However they got to the shelter or rescue group, older pets who are adopted often seem to be exceptionally affectionate and extremely loyal companions.  But first you have to adopt one!

(EASEL Animal Rescue League is located at 4 Jake Garzio Drive, Ewing, NJ 08628.  It’s behind the township municipal building.)  

 Mystery (dog) story

Walking along a canal path up-river from here, a friend and I noticed a sign attached to a backyard fence facing the waterway.  We read it, of course, then looked around the backyard and listened for barking.  No sight or sound of the dog that the sign was all about.

So we sent a text message to the number on the sign and continued walking.  On our return trip, we re-read the sign, looked and listened.  There was nothing new – and no dog.  

With a name like “Happy Boy,” he had to be investigated . . . and he was.    

His story: next time.

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In fact, all animal issues are ‘mega’ to advocates

So “mega” means big.  OK.  But just how big would a “megalodon shark” be?  Try about 50-60 feet long, with teeth that won’t quit.  Those teeth explain the origin of this creature’s full name: “big tooth shark.”

Last alive some 3.6 million years ago, this biggest predator fish of all time could eat a whale.  The blue whale’s current reputation as the largest creature in the world suffers when compared with that of the megalodon shark.

That giant makes today’s great white shark look like a pygmy fish.  Its jaw size would allow a human to stand inside it with ceiling height to spare.

All my superlatives about a long-gone fish are occasioned by an exhibition opening next month at New York’s American Museum of Natural History: “Sharks!”  A partial replica of the megalodon will join replicas of other sharks, including great whites and hammerheads. 

Because the intended gallery can’t fit an entire megalodon, its front end is all that’s now being fabricated in the museum’s workshop.    https://tinyurl.com/p78xzcpt

But megalodons were long ago and far away.  Now let’s turn our attention to some tiny but crucial things: cats’ whiskers.

Besides aesthetic appeal, those whiskers serve as very useful tools for cats – which is why when, years ago now, a cat with cropped whiskers turned up in a shelter where I volunteered, everyone who saw him was aghast. 

Billy

They must have known at least some of the ways cats depend on their whiskers – and could literally be lost without them:

·        as cats’ sensory organs, whiskers can sense vibrations in the air, alerting felines to nearby predators

·        because cats can’t see too well up close, whiskers help them navigate their surroundings by sensing what’s around them

·        the position of their whiskers shows how felines are feeling

·        whiskers protect cats’ eyes, acting like eye lashes

Now take a look at this article to learn how chubby cats have a “whisker advantage.”  

https://tinyurl.com/cmj5y5db

The clock’s ticking

There’s still time for you to adopt a senior cat, this being “adopt a senior pet month,” which I’ve altered to be senior cat month since cats are in far more jeopardy than dogs in animal shelters.  And bringing an older cat home now allows both you and your new feline to really enjoy the holidays (and long beyond).

Suggestion: visit your nearest animal shelter or contact an area rescue group to find out whether they’re caring for older felines.  If so, visit and meet them.  Then, if you’re inclined to help a homeless cat to begin with, you may just bring one home.  (Please do!)

Lab animals rejoice

Earlier this month, Governor Murphy signed New Jersey’s Humane Cosmetics Act into law.  This action capped intense effort by members and supporters of the Animal Protection League of NJ, who phoned, tweeted and emailed the governor about the importance of this legislation.

Laurie Perla, APL’s legislative liaison, was a driving force behind passing this bill, anticipated to become a forerunner of a federal law banning the manufacture and sale of animal-tested cosmetics in the US.  

“Untold numbers of rabbits, rats, mice, guinea pigs and hamsters suffer and die each year” in now-needless cosmetic safety tests, according to the Humane Society of the US.  You can find a list of companies that are certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny at leapingbunny.org.  

Oh, deer!

What can you do with leftover pumpkins?  Why do deer have good reason for eating quickly?  What are a few reasons for why deer-vehicle crashes spike in November?  Why should you leash your dog in wildlife areas?

You’ll find answers to many such questions in “The Bleat,” November’s newsletter from Save New Jersey Deer.  Here’s the link:  https://conta.cc/3DbmJR9  

 

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For 2-way joy, adopt a senior cat this month

  Ringo        HAWC image

Animal shelters are simply not for cats – which is one reason why organizations that advocate for cats promote fostering felines instead of consigning stray, surrendered or abandoned cats to shelters, where far more cats than dogs are euthanized.

Cramped and unhealthful shelter facilities for felines are bad enough for kittens and young cats, some of whom never knew anything better.  But senior cats confined in shelters have often known real homes and people who loved them.  To find themselves in an animal shelter at that stage in life, when they deserve to ride out their time in comfort, health and affection, must be devastating.  

For very good reason, November is “adopt a senior pet month.”  (I hate the name “senior” in describing people or animals, and I’m using it here only because that’s how this month is publicized.)  Further, I’m focusing on senior cats here because last month was adopt a shelter dog month, and as indicated, cats are in more jeopardy in shelters than dogs are.

Fluffy

To make it easier for us to see the importance of happy homes for senior cats, this comparison: toward the end of their lives, both senior cats and senior people deserve comfort, respect and caring – not being institutionalized, too often in sub-standard settings with sub-standard care.  Repeatedly, older shelter animals are described as the hardest to re-home.   

In contrast to kittens and younger felines, senior cats offer myriad advantages when adopted.  For starters, mature cats make great companions.  Often they’ve “been there before” and know about domestic life, whether with a family or one loving person.

Senior cats are beyond all the “vetting” and training that babies will need, so they can settle in and appreciate.  Often overlooked in shelters, mature felines most need the homes that compassionate people can provide, ultimately to their own delight as well.  

               Tigger               TCR image      

Adult cats already show what they’re made of, unlike kittens who will grow up into who knows what. Adopters who work during the day or work or enjoy retirement at home would appreciate the reality of “ready-to-go” cats, whose transition from shelter to home can be very smooth.

It’s worth remembering (for cats and people alike!) that age is not a disease.  Older cats can live full, active lives or experience health issues while aging.  At the same time, though, thanks to better veterinarian and dietary care, pets are living longer these days, according to the American Veterinary Medical Assn.   

Sure, adopting a senior cat will probably mean less overall time together.  But that glass is still half full of valuable time to enjoy life at home together, with a happier ending than otherwise would have been likely.  As for vet bills, they’ll happen regardless of the animal’s age, sometimes occurring with a kitten as well as a senior.

                          Melody        TCR image

A comfortable, happy senior cat in a loving home could well surprise everyone and live longer than expected.  And whatever time there is can be high quality best-friends time, invaluable for both sides.  

(Note: I welcome word from shelter and rescue group reps about senior cats in residence who most need adoption into loving homes.  Please send a JPG image and biographical information for each cat, along with your contact info, to me: pmsummers@msn.com.  Thank you!)

 

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