In the past year or so I've had the chance to adopt two little kittens and take them home to enjoy a new life with us so I thought I would share my experiences.
First we found Olly. I've always been against buying pets from pet shops as I can't stand the thought of supporting businesses that lock dogs and cats in glass enclosures with shredded paper as floor and barely any room to play around in. It's just something that I've always found extremely disturbing and cruel. So when I came across the website Pet Rescue, it seemed like the perfect place to find our first fur baby. Every day I would scroll through the pages and pages of kittens looking for their forever home and would just want to take them all home and give them the love they deserved. It was too hard to decide. Then I scrolled past this beautiful Burmese cross kitten with the most gorgeous, heart warming eyes you've ever seen. I stopped right there. I called Eli over to where I was sitting, made him fill in the application form (as I can be horrible with words when I'm filling our formal, more important things) and within a couple of hours we had organised to go see him the following weekend. Olly had been rescued by a group called Geelong Animal Rescue (GAR), a nonprofit organisation run by volunteers where all rescued animals are put into foster homes until they can find a new home. So as organised, that Sunday we jumped in the car and drove out to Geelong to meet the little kitten. We soon saw how much of a loving, smoochy kitten he was and before we knew it we were driving back home with a new kitten in the back of the car. GAR charges $200 for kittens which covers all their vet costs including microchipping and desexing. It may sound like a lot for a kitten that they've just rescued but let me tell you, it is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a cat you've seen in the window of a pet shop. Olly is now a perfectly healthy, fully grown, handsome 1 year old cat.
Just under a year later, we'd been tossing up the idea of getting Olly a friend. My birthday came along and Eli surprised me with a box full of packing peanuts as well as a little note with a kitten on it, saying that he would buy me a new little kitten as my present this year. I couldn't hold back my excitement and started on Pet Rescue as soon as I could. I also heard through my brother that a pet supplies store called Pet Barn fostered kittens through the Lort Smith Animal Hospital. Seeing as a friend of ours worked there I thought I'd pop in and meet some of the current kittens they had. After popping in a few times, our friend told us of a kitten that had recently been rescued by another employee. She had been dumped at a petrol station to fend for herself. The thought of any little animal being in this situation tug at my heart strings and I was dying to meet her. After all her vet checks and everything at the Lort Smith, she was brought into Pet Barn on a Saturday. First thing Sunday morning I was there and she was adorable. Super shy at first but she snuggled right into me when I was able to hold her. Even my mum (who doesn't really like cats) fell in love with her and even now says that she's got something for her after all that she went through. I went through the application form and was super nervous as apparently someone else had been in not long before me and already applied for her as well. Two days later got the call that I'd been accepted. I couldn't believe it. We took her home the following weekend, took a week to decide on her name but now we have a perfectly healthy kitten who is in a much better place now. Poppy cost us $170 which also included all the vet fees.
Now I have two adorable cats who I am so happy with and wouldn't trade them for anything. Yes, I sound like the crazy cat lady but rescuing two animals and giving them the life they deserve really made me feel good.
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So if you're looking for a new pet to add to your family I highly suggest doing some research and rescuing a pet from somewhere rather than buying from a breeder or pet shop. Yes, you more than likely won't be able to get the exact breed or cat or dog that you were looking for but at the end of the day that really doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're giving this animal the forever home they deserve.
Until next time.. xx
