Abandoned but not lost forever

Once again a friend of mine has found a kitten abandoned near her home.

This adorable little fellow whom she's named Boots because of his white socks and stockings, is only about 7 weeks old.

Mother and two babies were seen around my friend's rural neighbourhood and then only this wee one left behind somehow.

It's hard to imagine anyone abandoning baby animals, but it happens all the time in the country. People take unwanted cats and kittens out to the country, see a barn and dump the poor defenseless things out onto the side of the road figuring, I guess, that a kitten is a cat and can live in a barn right? Not if the barn already has cats...It would be kinder to kill unwanted babies, rather than the slow death by starvation or predation by dogs, other feral cats, coyotes, hunting birds such as owls and so on.

It always boggles my mind that people get creatures as pets and then don't neuter them. One friend told me of a woman who allowed her cat to get pregnant 20 times - because, the woman said "she loves being a mother." Cats aren't people, there are some that are naturally nurturing, others abandon their babies specially if they are too young to manage... but love being a mother? I don't think so.

Much as I love animals and if you've read any of this blog in the past year, you know they're a focal point of my life, it just wouldn't occur to me not to neuter a pet - male or female -

"Oh I want to get one litter from my male dog," some people state as the reason for not neutering a male. Why? A legitimate breeder (not the backyard or garage breeder/puppy mill kind) does a better job, selects the appropriate female to strengthen the genetics and doesn't keep the female in breeding bondage year after year, but does careful planning to protect the animal and the babies. And if your pet is a purebred, sometimes breeding it isn't even legal from the breeders standpoint. This applies to all pets, not just dogs and cats. And just fyi - testicular cancer is becoming more common in male dogs.

So to begin my new year of blogging (365 posts on the 28th - now that was a surprise to me and some who didn't think I'd stick to it) I'm on a bit of a rant, inspired by that tiny bit of fluff pictured at the top of this blog.

One friend of mine who runs an animal rescue organization has the tag line on her email - "Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die."
She has a good point.

Many loving and abandoned pets end up in shelters, for any number of reasons, allergies, moving to a place that doesn't allow pets, an elderly owner passing on for a few examples, or sometimes, just not caring enough.

So if you truly want to get a pet, why not check out your local shelter, or Kijiji that also has many pets listed to give away, or the animal rescue organizations that have websites? If you want a specific breed of dog, cat, horse, or almost any other kind of creature there are rescue organizations that focus specifically on particular breeds... "googling" will help you find them.

Not everyone wants a pet, but you can help by supporting a rescue organization financially or in some other way... we all can help. And we all know big or small, every bit of help is always needed if the cause is just.

So here's to our four-legged, feathered, amphibian and reptilian friends and the fishes too. We are blessed to share this wonderful planet with such a wide variety of creatures, many of whom give us unconditional love and companionship.

Here's to my own four four-legged friends, the fish and frogs that inhabit my pond and all the other creatures around or near my home that make life so varied and interesting and who were the inspiration for this blog. It was originally started to get me back to writing regularly about things that matter to me, and to obtain the discipline for finishing my book - (which, by the way, is well under way and I'm hoping will be ready for Christmas.

And here's to all of you who read this blog, whether regularly or only once in a while. Thank you so much for stopping by, for sharing your comments, your thoughts and your own blogs. What an amazing year this has been. Thank you all for your support.

Here are some rescued pets - photos friends have sent me. There are tons more - but for another day...