Yesterday I did something I thought I would never do.
I surrendered a cat to the local animal shelter.
For those who have been following along, a year ago (almost to the day) we adopted Seth.
Alas, he and Fleur never really got along and in fact little Miss Princess-Diva-Puss-Kitty gave him a bit of a hard time. She let him know that she was Top Cat in no uncertain terms!
She would guard the litter boxes and harass and bully him so that he was scared to use them.
I often saw her take a swipe at him; sometimes he swiped back but mostly he cowered in fear.
As a result he suffered from stress-induced bladder infections, and his anxiety meant that he sprayed. After several months of constantly cleaning that up, I reached a point where I didn’t want him inside the house anymore, so he was relegated to the cat patio.
It wasn’t much of a life for the poor little blighter.
We tried separating them, we tried Feliway spray, we tried letting Seth play outside … but nothing seemed to work.
I saw little to no sign of the cuddly affectionate cat we knew in the first couple of weeks, except for when he spent time with Mr 23. Much as I wanted to bond with him, it just never happened – I guess he saw me as “belonging” to Fleur, and therefore off limits to him.
(You can read about some of the challenges in one of my past kitty updates.)
Even the vet agreed we’d done all we could, and that sometimes, two cats will just never work out or get along.
So we made the heartbreaking decision to return him to the animal shelter, in the hope that he will soon find a new home where he will be the only cat.
Surrendering a cat cannot be done on the spur of the moment. It involves booking them in, and waiting several weeks until a spot is available; making sure their vaccinations are all up to date; paying a fee and the filling out of quite a bit of paperwork.
The animal shelter itself is a lovely place, and has been completely renovated since we adopted Seth twelve months ago. Today, there are generous cat enclosures and plenty of spots for kitties to play, relax, and snooze in the sun – or snuggle inside a little hidey hole …
Having met one of the volunteers, who always had a soft spot for Seth, I know that the kitties are very well cared for.
Yet it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I spent most of yesterday in tears after saying goodbye to sweet Sethie.
I have always prided myself on being a responsible pet owner, and really felt that this was for the best (or I would never have done it).
Have you ever had to surrender a pet, or make any other heartbreaking decision?
UPDATE: Seth found his forever home!