The
Tizzie Bazalcat Shelter for Homeless Cats
Sometimes people contact the Shelter and say: I hear youre trying to get rid of a cat. Perish the thought! We adore our kitties and would never get rid of any of
them. We do, however, strive to find
wonderful homes for our wonderful cats.
Our aim is to match the right cat with the right
person. To do this, we have an
application process, which gives us a chance to get to know the potential
adopter and to get a feel for what sort of cat would suit their home and
lifestyle the best. A good knowledge of
the atmosphere in the potential new home helps us reduce the risk of placing a
cat in an environment that is unsuitable to its particular emotional and
physical needs. If the home is not
suitable to the cat, the cat will almost certainly disappoint its new owner by
not being the sort of pet they had hoped for.
The first question we ask is what sort of cat
are you looking for? and the response usually comes in the form of a colour
(calico), or an age (kitten or adult), or a gender. These are physical attributes, however, and dont give us the information we need. We need to know if the potential adopter has
other pets, if they have children, if they live alone, if they work full-time
and if they want an indoor cat or an outdoor cat. We need to know if they want to have two cats to keep each other
company, or if they want a more solitary, emotionally independent cat. We need to know if the adopter is able to
take care of a cat with special medical or dietary requirements.
We follow this getting-to-know-you time with an application form that asks the potential adopter to put on paper the information we look for during the informal interview.
If the application process has been successful and a cat has been chosen
for adoption, we then ask the adopter to sign a contract
with us. It looks long, but it is not
onerous. It pertains mostly to the
proper care of the cat. Our main
concerns in the contract are the following:
1) Vaccinations are to be kept up to date.
2) Intact cats must be spayed or neutered at sexual maturity (note that
only kittens too young for surgery will be homed intact, for all adults are
fixed as soon as they come into the shelter).
3) Declawing is strictly prohibited.
4) If the adopter ever has to give up the cat, we would like to have it
back, or at least be involved in the re-homing process.
5) If the new owner finds him/herself unable to comply with our terms,
we reserve the right to ask for the cat to be returned to us.
Although it is not actually part of the contract, we do ask the new
owner to keep the cat on a premium quality diet. Almost every cat that comes to us arrives in poor condition. They
improve dramatically in our care, and we would hate to see them returned to a
poor diet and subjected to all the potential health problems associated with
inadequate nutrition. Premium cat food
is more expensive than commercial food, but it is worth every penny. We do ask potential adopters to make this
financial commitment to the health and well-being of their new kitty.
On the day that the new owner comes to collect their cat, we ask them to
bring an appropriate kitty-carrier. We
are very strict about this for two reasons.
First, for safetys sake, every cat
owner should keep such a carrier handy.
If the cat gets ill suddenly and has to be rushed to the vet in an
emergency, a safe way to transport the cat could be the difference between its
life and death. We recommend that the
carrier is stored near the door, within easy reach, in case of fire. It would
be hard enough to get a desperately terrified cat out of a burning house,
harder still - and dangerous for the handler - to try to control it. Second, our rule is that no cats leave the
shelter except in a carrier simply because our building is located in busy
downtown Athabasca. A frightened cat
can harm its handler, escape and run under a moving vehicle. Also, cats that are not used to travelling
in cars are liable to throw up. It is
much less unpleasant for the person who has to clean it up if it is contained
in a carrier rather than on the upholstery of the vehicle.
It is not our wish to be overbearing or to make the process of adopting
a kitty unpleasant. We just want to
avoid the inevitable heartache that results when a home doesnt work out and the cat has to come back. We want to know that our cats are going to
live with people who will dote on them as we do, and who appreciate the close
and unique bond that we have with each of our cats. While they are at the shelter, they become active participants in
our shelter family, and each one who moves on to its >forever= home leaves a little empty hole in our lives. We need to be confident that each kitty gets
placed in a setting where it feels at home, where it is adored and respected,
and where it can enchant its new people and become an integral part of its new
family.