13-year-old cat tastes freedom for first time

[catbyte]

[Deuxcents]

1. What happened to Penelope?

[in2herbs]

2. The medical neglect and abuse to this cat is beyond words. I once tried being a puppy raiser

for charities that train and place ADI support dogs but when they refused to let me and my vet provide treatment to the puppy (because they knowingly shipped a sick dog to me) they refused to allow her to be treated -- even with an immune system booster that is nationally prescribed and mfd by Nutramax. .

I returned her to the charity but I will make it part of my life's mission to expose these charities.

BTW: a puppy raiser gets a puppy at about 8 weeks of age and cares for that puppy until about 20 months of age. The puppy raiser pays for ALL food and medical expenses. The charity pays for NONE. So why do they refuse to let the puppy have a chance for a healthy life?

A scouring of their FY reports contains the answer.

[Johnny999r]

3. 13 year old cat

First of all, I want to thank the new pet parent for saving the lives of the two neglected and abused cats featured in this video. She took in the first cat eventhough most folks would likely have him put down. I really admire good folks like her, in fact, I also like the fact she connected the cats to her kids and has introduced the concept of compassion to them. I had a similar experience rescuing a neglected neighborhood cat. He was a small male Tabby, I suspected he was 100% outdoors and learned later in fact he was because the owner had pet birds in the house and feared the cat would harm them. He took in the cat from a relative who could no longer keep him.

The relative had the cat's front claws removed for some unknown reason, so now the cat was completely defenseless living totally outdoors. This situation, along with seeing a dried up bowl of cat food on the neighbor's front porch prompted me to do something. I contacted the neighbor and asked him if I could take over the care of the cat and he was very cooperative in response.

I took him to for a checkup and care as needed. The vet estimated he was around 8 years old. He adjusted to his new life quickly, having the freedom to be indoors when he wanted and after allowing him out, we learned he never would wander off, so we let him out for periods during the day, but always brought him in at night.

Things really improved when we rescued an abandoned neighborhood cat when his stupid owners left him behind after they moved out of the area. He was skittish at first, but warmed up to us soon after. After getting him checked out, we introduced him to our other "rescue" cat mentioned above and fortunately they took to each other like they were long, lost friends. It was heartwarming to see them getting along so well, they did everything together, they even shared their sleeping area.

This unbreakable bond lasted until the first cat's health failed and eventually passing some 13 years after we took him in. He was 21 years old at the time. The family still misses him, including his buddy cat.