jenojoon

Today’s Cat Friends are courtesy of my friend Elisabeth (@CzechVegan on twitter), author of the fun and yummy blog Czech Vegan (In America). Let’s meet her Cat Friends!

Bear and Abbey were born to a feral momma cat in the spring of 2008. A rescue group that I volunteer for took them in, along with their other brothers and sisters after they were weaned off. When they were old enough to get spayed and neutered and after they received all their shots, they were available for adoption at a shelter. At that time we had Shelly (an English Cocker Spaniel from Prague) and Van Gogh (a cat from Atlanta), and we were not looking for any more furry kids.

FOA rescue is one of the many rescues that does not adopt out black cats during the month of October. There are two reasons why some rescues don’t adopt out black cats around Halloween. The first one is the fact that some people adopt a black cat and use it as a Halloween decoration for their house or as a part of their witch costume. When Halloween is over they simply return the cat to the shelter or dump it out on the street. It is a cruel and inhumane practice, because these poor cats suffer real trauma from being dragged back and forth from shelter to home and back again. Another reason, much worse, is the fear of people who abuse or sacrifice cats during Satanic and other dark rituals. FOA gets all the black cats out of the shelter for a month, finding them temporary foster homes. We agreed to foster Abbey and Bear together. We first only wanted Bear, but then I saw how codependent Abbey was on her brother and I simply could not leave her behind. Abbey was litter box trained and never had any accidents in the shelter until one night. I came to the shelter one day to find Abbey in a cage by herself (until then she was always with Bear). Someone had separated them for a night. She missed her brother so much that she peed all over her bed due to loneliness and sadness…..

Fostering Abbey and Bear was fun, but also a lot of work since they were still crazy kittens who got into things and made a lot of mess. They chewed up most of our cords and wires around the house, including surround sound cord, several cell phone chargers and subwoofer wire, book corners and magazines…

However, we fell in love with them despite all the destruction and craziness. When Halloween was over and we had to bring these mischievous twins back to the shelter, we hesitated. The idea of Abbey and Bear sleeping in cold cages, eating cheap and unhealthy food, being locked up in a cage for more then half a day each day terrified me. They had their new routines at our home, their favorite food, treats, toys, plenty of love and play time, and their new sister and brother (Shelly and Van Gogh). I was also scared that they would be adopted separately, because it is very hard to find a home for two cats together, not to mention homeless black cats are not the easiest cats to adopt out.

We decided to adopt Abbey and Bear and they have been part of our family for over 3 years now. I am grateful for Halloween, because without that holiday, we would not have our kitty twins.

Thank you for introducing us to your kittes, Elisabeth!