Sorry Lady, But You Are Not Getting Any Cats from Us

As I walked into the animal shelter that day, I was greeted by another volunteer in a rather unusual way. "Oh, thank goodness, it's you!" she exclaimed. "I thought it was the crazy woman again." Of course, I had gotten curious and wanted to hear the story. It turned out that a woman had come to the pet shelter, wishing to adopt a cat. She was taken to the kitty room, where she'd picked up and held one of the cats - Smokey, a quiet gray female. As she petted her, Smokey nipped her hand. It wasn't a vicious bite, I was told, just a play bite cats often give when they are over-stimulated. The woman reacted by slapping Smokey in the face - several times, right in front of the stunned volunteers.

Needless to say, that action had ended the matter right there. As much as animal shelter volunteers want to see their cats adopted, they will not let any of them be taken by an unsuitable person, which the woman had proved to be. When confronted by the volunteer about slapping poor Smokey, she had said that her vet told her it was the right way to train cats. She'd also added that it was really nothing: if her husband were bitten like that, the cat would have been thrown against a wall. After this additional piece of info letting her adopt any of the cats was out of the question.

The woman, however, turned out to be very persistent and wouldn't take "no" for an answer. She kept calling, and coming, and even informed the shelter staff that she had called the police, and the police told her that "if she wanted a cat she should be able to take one." When the shelter staff explained to her that the police had no authority over the adoption process, she threatened to sue. We learned later that we were not the only shelter she had been to; another one here in the area had refused her as well.

It really bothers me to see people like that trying to get their hands on animals - and she is not the worst possible kind, I am sure. Terrible cases of animal abuse take place often enough, and probably just as many of them go unreported. It makes me sick. I wish there was a way to stop it, once and for all... Not in this world, I'm afraid.