The world NEEDS us.
There’s a terrible stigma our society has placed on us cat people and we already know who they are. We’re the ones who have cat hair all over their clothing, who are just hoping to catch their cat doing something funny on film so they can make Fluffy Internet famous.
We’re the “crazy” cat people.
Society may be mocking the girl who loves cats so much in the eHarmony video, but here’s the thing: she’s needed, as well as all the other ‘crazy’ cat people just like us. The world needs people like us because we love cats just that much more. In fact, most of us do way more than just look at cat gifs on the Internet all day. We are truly and completely invested in bettering the lives of as many cats as we can.
We Are Saving Lives
We crazy cat people don’t buy thousand-dollar Siamese cats to be our constant companions. In fact, don’t even mention the idea to us. Instead of purchasing from pet stores or breeders, we adopt our cats from their local shelter or rescue abandoned kittens in our neighborhoods, which makes an impact on the kitties that are looking for a home. In fact, there are approximately 70 million stray animals living in the United States. That number comes out to be about five homeless animals for every one homeless human. These staggering numbers are the reason adoption is far more beneficial to these homeless animals, the animals who are at a greater risk of being euthanized. This is why we crazy cat people choose to adopt instead of buy from a pet store or breeder. There are too many homeless animals for us to even consider buying their cat.
We are not only passionate about adoption, but we are careful about adoption. We know all too well what goes into caring for another life and they take it seriously. There are many things to take into consideration when adopting an animal. These examples include finances, the daily schedule, living conditions and many others.
We Make a Positive Difference
You see, we crazy cat people know the responsibility it takes to adopt, and if we are not ready for that responsibility, we volunteer our free time at a shelter in order to make a difference.
Animal shelters are non-profit organizations, and for that reason, they depend on the volunteers to help take care of the animals, do the day-to-day jobs and help clean up the facilities. While society is busy mocking us, we are busy helping an organization keep its doors open and innocent and helpless animals extend their life expectancies. Without any volunteers and donations, animal shelters wouldn’t have the plentiful food and toys to supply the animals or be able to give the animals the exercise and attention they need to be physically and mentally stimulated until they are adopted into a family.
We ‘crazy’ cat people are also dedicated to learning “trap, neuter, return” (TNR) method for helping the feral cat population and teaching it to others. Feral cats are once-domesticated cats which have reverted back to a wild state. While it is impossible to even try to guess how many feral cats there are in the United States, we do know that feral cats have an average of 1.4 litters of three kittens each and ever year, furthering the feral cat population. What TNR does is to humanely trap feral cats, sterilized and treated and returned to their habitat. By participating in TNR and teaching others its benefits, we not only help control the free-roaming cat population but we help prevent future kittens born into the wild from imminent danger or death.
In addition to being dedicated to adoption, volunteering, and the TNR method, we are busy finding ways to keep feral cats warm in winter. There are many simple and easy ways to build shelters for feral cats that can make a huge difference to their lives during the harsh winters. And so, the next time your cat friend tells you they can’t go out because they’re making cat shelters out of storage bins, just give ’em a break. We deserve one because there are thousands of cats out there who are alive, healthy and happy that otherwise wouldn’t have had those opportunities. It’s the time and care we give to cats that make all the difference. Without our passion and love, there would be so many cats that would have much worse fates, that would not experience unconditional love, that would not get a second, third or even fourth chance at life.
And so, yes, the world NEEDS crazy cat people in the world because we need someone to care about these animals. We need people to adopt them, to volunteer in their honor, to help control their population in a humane way.
So give us a break, OK? Because once you take everything we do into consideration it should be clear to see that we’re not crazy at all. Maybe we just care a little bit more than most people.
Image source: Tommy Hemmet Olesen/Flickr
