I went to the Wyoming County, New York Animal Shelter just to drop off sheets and blankets and had it in the back of my mind that I might adopt a tabby (my favorite) to add to our family of three cats while I was there.
When we arrived I was overwhelmed by the overcrowded conditions and the desperation of the dedicated people working at the shelter. I was with my son and he liked a white and black tabby and I like the gray tabby kitten. Just as we were deciding which one to take home with us, someone from the shelter came up to us with a somewhat desperate look on her face and said, "we having a buy one get one free sale today"! What could I do? I said in a hurried voice, "just put them both in the carrier and we'll take them both"! Literally, there were cats crawling EVERYWHERE! The rest is history and Ivy and Iris blended into our family perfectly. I have never had litter mates before, but I highly recommend getting two because, they are so funny together and it really helped them transition into a household with three adult cats, because they had the comfort of each other. I walked out of that shelter with my two kittens and burst into tears. It's a desperate situation in rural shelters with very little money supporting their efforts. People think nothing of barn cats having litter after litter of kittens. My wish is to have a neuter van which travels around to barns and neuters all the male cats to stop the overpopulation. Otherwise, it's like putting your finger in the crack in the dam. Overpopulation has to be addressed at the source.
Tonawanda, NY
