Honestly, is there anything cuter than a kitten?
I love cats more than human children (first indicator of future crazy cat lady syndrome). I’ve done a lot for cats, including but not limited to buying a sick one a humidifier, spending more money on cat healthcare than my own, wrapping presents to put under the Christmas tree that I help the cat unwrap on Dec. 25 and getting up every two hours on school nights to hand-feed fostered feline babies whose eyes haven’t opened yet.
So last Monday, craving the love of a fur baby, I adoped Nanook, my 8-week-old kitten. This was the second best thing I could think of doing to honor the memory of my sweet, deceased Sebastion, the kitten I had euthanized in January after he painfully succombed to a horrible kitten disease, Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). The first best thing was to donate to the Winn Feline Foundation to finance research for a vaccination and cure for this terrible sickness.
But enough sadness. Lets talk about adoption. There are hundreds of homeless kitties in Tampa alone looking for forever families to adopt them. You have numerous options when it comes to adoption.
1. Shelter pets- Think the Humane Society and similar set-ups. I adopted Sebastion from the Pinellas County Humane Society and Nanook from the National Humane Society in Tampa on Gunn Highway. Shelter cats are usually surrendered or found animals and mutts (as opposed to pure-bred animals) usually have pretty good health. A lot of shelters spay and neuter, microchip and vaccinate animals before adoption. Adoption fees range but are typically under $100.
2. Foster moms- check around through local vets, emergency vets and shelters. Many have foster parents that take in kittens (especially teeny weeny ones) until they’re ready for adoption. These cats have a decreased risk of having caught a contagious sickness since they’re usually kept in smaller groups of cats than in shelters.
3. The interwebs- websites like petfinder and adoptapet let you type in your zip code and search for animals up for adoption near you.
So what are you waiting for? A kitty cat’s love is totally worth the pet deposit at your apartment. Go adopt now!