This was meant to be a quick warm up, but it turned into a comic that I’ve wanted to draw for a while. This is something that is extremely important to me, and I appreciate it if you read it.
A while ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A family went a cat shelter to adopt. The daughter fell in love with a 3-legged cat. The father straight up said “absolutely not”. Because he was missing a leg. That cat was that close to having a family that loved him, but the missing leg held him back. Why?!
Many people have the initial instinct of “nope” when they see an imperfect animal. I get it, but less-adoptable does NOT mean less loveable. 9 out of 10 people will choose a kitten over an adult cat. And those 10% that would get an adult cat often overlook “different” animals.
All I want people to do is be open to the idea of having a “different” pet in their lives. Choose the pet that you fall in love with, but at least give all of them a fair shot at winning your heart.
Don’t dismiss them, they deserve a loving home just as much as any other cat. They still purr, they still love a warm lap, they still play, they still love you. Trust me, next time you are in the market for a new kitty, just go over to that one cat that’s missing an eye and see what he’s all about!
I am tearing up at this. All the cats I have adopted have been special or too old for most people to want them. The first cat I ever adopted was Falcore, who was ten years old and had no ears due to cancer, and she was the sweetest, kindest cat and we had ten amazing, purry, snuggly happy months together before her cancer came back. Then I saw Zigmond in a shelter and he was 13 years old, and very shy hiding in the back of his cage. The people working at the shelter tried to talk me out of adopting him! They told me he would never be a lap cat, that he was too grumpy and old and that I should get a kitten instead. I insisted on Zigmond and he has been happily living with me (often on my lap, he sleeps on top of me every night) ever since. He has gone blind and he is nearly 18 years old but he is sweet, kind, loving and he makes me so happy. Even Garfield who was only five years old had been in the shelter for months and months because all the people adopting cats thought he was too old and wanted kittens. Tom and I adopted him and he is just wonderful. Whenever I am sad he sleeps on my pillow, curled up around my head purring and smiling at me. Please adopt older and ‘special’ cats, they don’t deserve to be put down while people overlook them for kittens.
sob
*sniff* there's dust. Definitely a lot of dust in the air. *bawl*
