[pct-l] What to do with cats?

[rellinwood at worldnet.att.net (Robert Ellinwood)]

For those who love their pets and love to go hiking for extended periods
finding the right person or solution to the pet care issue is a serious
problem.  It took us months before we "lucked out" and found one person who
would care for our 2 cats and another who would care for our 2 dogs, while
we hiked.  

Of interest is that both these individuals turned out to be involved with
animal rescue work... or who "foster" and board animals and/or who work for
a county humane society.   In other words, they already had a pattern set of
having dogs or cats come into their homes.  With people who didn't normally
do this kind of work or who simply had a pet or two of their own, the idea
of having to care for a couple animals for several weeks or months was more
than they could handle.  But for those already used to various animals
coming and going in their household  and who were already geared up to deal
with issues of feeding, exercise, vet care as needed, etc, taking in a
couple more animals was a breeze.  They were folks who "give" with big
hearts when it comes to animals.

I would suggest starting with the local animal rescue or humane society
personnel.  Also look into those big-hearted folks in your area who love a
particular breed so much that they belong to a group that rescues an animal
of that breed whenever one is turned in to a county or town shelter and then
actively finds new homes for them.  Our two dogs are cared for by a
wonderful woman who usually takes in reject Dalmatians, but has come to love
our two pooches and wants to help.  The woman who cares for our cats has 4-6
cats at her house at any one time and is very active with the humane
society.  Her vet even makes house calls!   Heard of that lately?

FWIW, we found our two through a local pet club.  Word of mouth brought two
offers.  Of course it involves some considerable finances, depending on the
length of each hike, but it is distinctly less expensive than straight
kennel boarding and definitely a more positive situation, for both our pets
and us.  Keep patiently asking... at vets, groomers, clubs, even shelters...
and you'll find someone acceptable to you.

Good luck with your search.

Dr Bob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
> bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Tortoise
> Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 4:40 PM
> To: Pacific Crest Trail List
> Subject: [pct-l] What to do with cats?
> 
> I live alone and have a couple of cats. If/when I take my next long
> (multi-week) trek, I'm wondering what to do with them. I don't have a
> friend or partner who could care for them for that length of time. Has
> anyone a suggestion / solution?
> 
> --
> Tortoise
> 
> I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
> Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
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