Reply #28: We live in the country on a dead-end road [View All]

about half-a-mile from the area's cat shelter. Instead of paying the $5 to the shelter to take care of their cat, people will just shove the cat out of the car near the entrance to the shelter and drive off.

Eventually all of these drop offs find their way to our house or the neighbors. The lady above us now has six cats, the bachelor across from her has two and he hates cats, and we have had so many I have lost count. The lady further down the street has a purebred blue Persian.

We were up to six at one point, but three have died of old age. We are now down to three. A calico, who is allergic to cat fur, a pure blooded Siamese and a 24-lb, multi-clawed coon cat, who tied the Guinness world record for most toes.
Here are two of them:


Since I am allergic to cats and find three to be at the top of the limit of this household, I now bring the cats in and clean and feed them up and bring them to the humane society in our largest city, where they have a much better chance of being adopted. Some of these have included a purebred white Persian, a huge Maine coon and her four kittens, and a Burmese. All were quickly adopted.

I truly would love to keep them all. But I believe in the quality of life for an animal and it just is too hard with a job, husband, kids and a dog to give these little guys all of the lovin' they need. Plus my allergy to cats isn't a respiratory one. I break out with huge welts on my face, arms, hands and legs which are not very attractive come tee shirt season. I had to draw the line somewhere.

As far as the dog, we actually bought him from a local breeder. I have never owned a purebred animal before, and was very leery of the $400 price, but he is a wonderful dog. We only owned mutts before who had a lot of emotional baggage, and were very likely abused before they came to us. Don't get me wrong, they were great dogs, but when you get a puppy at seven-weeks old and train and treat them the way they should be, there is a huge difference. Plus I feel like I have paid my dues when it comes to taking in strays.:)
Here is the dog playing with the obese stray Siamese: