Reply #41: Thank you so much for doing this, and please keep giving

[liberalhistorian]

the poor guy as much attention as possible, 'cause he desperately needs it. I grew up with both cats and dogs, and most of them we got from shelters and they were all wonderful pets. It's so important to adopt older cats and dogs from shelters, 'cause they make wonderful pets but are often put down because everyone wants kittens and puppies. And those animals KNOW when their time is near, too. I remember one that I adopted in college, I'd gone to the shelter with my then-boyfriend and I happened to peak into a side room. There I saw many cages with very lethargic, sad-looking cats and dogs.
There was one beautiful male cat with large, sad eyes that lifted its head and looked right at me, but didn't otherwise move. He looked just like a cat I'd had for several years as a child. I asked about it, thinking it was in a "sick" room or something. Well, it was "sick" all right.

The shelter manager said there was nothing wrong with him besides being "depressed." Nothing physical? No, she said, he's just "depressed. This is what we call the "death room". It turned out that that was the "condemned row" room, where they put the animals slated for euthanasia the next day. She said he'd been there for a few months, his time was up tomorrow, he knew it and he was "depressed." Well, of course, we took him off of "death row" and brought him home and he KNEW he'd been saved and was ever so grateful. He was, of course, very clingy at first and didn't want to get off our laps or off of us when we were in bed. He was a wonderful cat and I still miss him twenty years later.

The two I have now are also rescues. One was twelve when I got her, she had long been spayed and declawed. I was living in a studio apt. at the time and needed an indoor, older, declawed cat and she fit the bill perfectly. Her family from birth had had to give her up due to children's allergies. She'd already been there a couple of months and the only thing that had saved her from being put down already was that it was the "slow" time of year and there weren't as many cats there, so they had more room. But her time was drawing near and I'm so glad I found her, 'cause she's been a fantastic pet.

She was also clingy and super-needy for love and attention at first, so that's normal. Just keep giving him attention and love and he'll settle down once he feels secure and knows that he'll be there for the long haul. He's had a major change and needs time to adjust. Bless you again for doing this, it's a wonderful thing.