by Dr. Nina Mantione

I love my shelter cats.  That is not to say I am immune to the blue-eyed charms of the beautiful Himalayan I saw in my office for her wellness visit a couple of weeks ago, but my cats from the “wrong side of the tracks” have a charm all their own.

Last September, our sweet 17-year-old cat, Lillith, passed away from kidney failure.  A month after we lost her, I read an article about how crowded our local shelter was becoming.  Still missing my Lillith, the article reminded me that 17-years-ago my husband and I chose her after she thrust her skinny little kitten leg through the bars of the cage at a shelter and beckoned us over.  This memory, along with the troubling article, prompted me to drag one patient husband and four excited kids to the overcrowded shelter to find a new feline addition to our family.  A shelter volunteer us  told us they had over 600 cats in need of homes!  I wanted to teach my children about animal shelters and adoption, so naturally we couldn’t leave empty-handed.  And even though we went there for just one cat, we couldn’t help but fall in love with two!

A week later we returned to pick up our two newly spayed and neutered young adult cats.  Shelter rules stipulate that no animal leaves if not spayed or neutered – even when the adopter is a veterinarian! This rule ensures that there are no “accidental” litters finding their way back to the shelter, and saves the adopting family the full cost of a spay or neuter.

When you consider the health benefits of spaying and neutering, as well as the fact that spayed and neutered pets receive a discount on their pet insurance, adopting a cat is a bargain that is hard to resist.  The adoption fee covers all of the medical care the pets have had while in the shelter, and any additional amount allows the shelter to help other animals in need. 

So, while they may not have the stunning beauty of a purebred, my scrappy duo is a charming pair.  Sookie, short and stocky, has an opinion about everything and has appointed herself “spokescat” for the household.  Godric’s Roman nose gives him character as he sprawls on our bed, looking  around as if he can scarcely believe his good fortune to have gone from a two foot square cage to a fluffy, clean, down comforter. 

Best of all is our family’s good fortune to have been able to provide homes for these two very grateful (and now somewhat spoiled) alley cats. Almost every day one of my children will say to me, “These cats are sure lucky we picked them!”  But I tell them that we are the lucky ones.

So, as I tell my clients all the time – do yourself a favor and visit your local shelter.  Find your own grateful new addition, and you may find yourself feeling equally as smitten!