Every week, Elaine Vigneault features an adoptable homeless animal on her blog. She does this, she says:
1. To remind my readers of all the companion animals who need homes
2. To highlight the personhood/personality of animals
3. To give link love to animal rescue organizations
4. To lighten my blog’s mood a bit with adorable animal pictures
All of which are wonderful reasons, & I love her idea. So I’m stealing it. I’m not sure I’ll manage weekly animals, but we’ll see.
I plan on featuring animals from all over the US, but I’ll start with one close to home, one that I know personally: Victor.
Victor is a total cuddlemonster. I know him through volunteering with the rescue group that is fostering him. Normally, when we have the cats in cages at Petco for adoption days, many of the cats are shy or aloof, because they’re scared. Victor is the most insistent on snuggles, by far. Plus, he is one of the most handsome kitties I’ve ever seen!
Victor is FIV+, which means that he needs to be a solo cat, or live in a home with other FIV+ kitties. (EDIT: Perhaps not!) However, he is currently very healthy & could provide so much love to someone for years. If I didn’t have 3 (FIV-negative) cats of my own already, I would so bring him home — & that’s what all the other volunteers say too!
You can contact the rescue organization & find out when to come see Victor here. Spread the word to all your NYC-area friends who could give Victor a loving home!
Vegans of Color 
Aw, thank you 🙂
Victor is really cute.
When we rescued a cat who turned out to be FIV+, we were told by one uninformed vet that he would have to be apart from other cats but this was contradicted by our primary vet. We then did some research on our own. Like HIV, FIV is transmitted via blood and semen, *not* via casual contact. Since this cat was neutered and not combative, we decided to keep him. More than two years later, he and all of the other cats here are fine. He has actively nurtured two rescued kittens. They, and we, are very happy that we did not accept the advice that FIV+ cats must be kept apart from other cats. I know that is true when it comes to feline leukemia and other diseases that are transmitted via casual contact but, with FIV, I wonder if some HIV-phobia is influencing those who advise avoidance of all contact.
[…] Vegans of Color are highlighting homeless animals in their blog, too. […]
Victor is adorable. He looks like my Linusito. I wish I could take him in.
Pattrice — thanks so much for sharing your experience! I definitely know that vets, like human doctors, can often serve up outdated or just plain wrong advice. I didn’t know that about FIV, though! I think you’ve got a point about the fear re: HIV leaking through. Sad!!!
Alas, I guess I lied when I said I would take Victor in if I didn’t have 3 cats already, though… we are (hopefully) moving to the UK this fall, & moving 3 cats w/us (they get to skip quarantine, PHEW) is going to be costly enough. Waaah!
I hope all of you point your friends who may be looking for a cat towards Victor. 🙂
I recently discovered your blog! I love it! Keep you all your good work.
Featuring a homeless animal of the week is a great idea. I was thinking of doing something similar on my blog – this is such a fabulous way to get the word out about animals in need. 🙂
RowdyKittens — yay, thank you! It’d be great if you started featuring homeless animals too. Maybe Elaine will eventually be looked back on as the starter of a great sweeping trend. 🙂
Also, I like to think that, even if the animals I post aren’t in a reader’s area (& thus they can’t think about adopting them realistically), it will get them considering what furry cutenesses might be needing homes closer by. Hehe.