Petting Zoo

Cats are amazing! They have us waiting hand and foot on them, but we benefit from this relationship in ways not yet understood. My solution for the exploded cat population in pounds and animal shelters may seem simplistic, however it solves a desperate problem in America and other countries. What do we do with all the cats? We give them a job, of course.

To begin, it may take a task force of dedicated cat lovers to implement this solution. But we already have people who go to the shelters to cuddle cats and pet them. What I propose is that we do the same with them as we do the dogs in these shelters (read my other article called Dog Pile on the Solutions page). We should train them to be companion animals. We take the kitties to the nursing homes, assisted living centers, and senior centers to comfort older people or to children’s hospitals and other places for disabled people or mental health facilities.

It has been my experience that these groups of people are starving for companionship and would welcome the attention given to them by the kitties or puppies. When I was a child in grade school, I used to visit the local nursing home. Occasionally the local shelter would bring around a basket of baby kitties or puppies to let the elders cuddle them. I remember, in particular, an older gentleman in a wheelchair who parked himself at the front entrance waiting for the arrival of the basket ball of fur. When they arrived, the carrier of little kitties would be place on his lap and a huge grin spread across his face as he proudly wheeled the kitties into the centers’ common room.

So, what we can do is to have a national task force dedicated to this huge problem. It only takes someone like a project manager who can be hired by the government to implement this solution. Of course, we could start small at your local shelter, but I think that the problem is so huge that it needs national attention and tax dollars to make a department that oversees this project. It is infinitely better for our communities and for the kitties and puppies that overwhelm our shelters.

For cat lovers everywhere, I say unite and put your mouth where your money is. Tell your government officials that this is a priority for you and make your voices matter. Something as simple as petting a kitty could solve not only the shelter problem but also comfort someone in desperate need of attention and love. I love this idea, don’t you? Ok. So now go make it happen. The kitties and puppies are depending on your human touch to keep their lives from being a zoo.

Copyright, 5/25/2022, Petting Zoo, April Graves-Minton, Love MoonEagle. All Rights Reserved.