Rant

I've been crying today. I took my 7 foster cats - Mom and her 6 babies, who were born on my watch - to the shelter to have their spay and neuter surgeries today. Val and Mack will go to their new home tonight and the other 5 are back home with me to recuperate.

I haven't been crying because Val and Mack don't live with me any longer. I really couldn't be happier about their new family; they are wonderful, loving people who took exceptional care of the cat they had before.

I haven't ben crying over the general idea of fostering cats to eventually go into other homes. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it.

I've been crying because it's all so unfair. It's unfair that Mother wasn't spayed as an adolescent and got pregnant. It's unfair because these kittens were born into a temporary home. But you know what's really upsetting me? It's unfair to me. Generally, I'm not selfish, but this hurts. Some ignoramus had a cat and he, she or they allowed her to get pregnant (and let's not forget the jerkface who was responsible for dear ol' dad not having his big boy surgery). They dumped her at the shelter and I picked up the pieces. I love these animals and comforted Mother when her belly was swollen to 7 times its normal size. I felt the babies turn and kick in her belly. I tried to revive her stillborn kitten after she had given it her best shot. I cared for and nurtured them and watched them grow. I helped Mother come from being detached from humans to an affectionate companion. The thought of letting them go hurts. I don't like it.

So many people think nothing of dumping their animals. You know how Paris Hilton and her douchebag cohorts made small dogs so popular? Guess what the shelter is bursting at the seams with? Small dogs. And kittens...aren't they so cute? Until they're cats and some numbskull realizes that they don't stay tiny forever and eventually their entertainment value drops when they just want to be your friend and have you scratch their chins.

It amazes me when people wonder at why I love animals. Well, why do you love football or limberger cheese? I don't understand that, but I don't think football should be banned and limberger embargoed. I think that the only people who should have animals ar those who are going to love and care for them, but that's not going to happen unless I become benevolent dictator (and my benevolence would be bestowed only on the deserving, trust me).

It's up to us to fight the good fight. I have to take my hurt and my anger and use it to educate people and act for the animals. I may just want to cry and be angry, but that won't do any good. Just give me tonight to lick my wounds, baby my fosters and love my forevers. Tomorrow I'll be back with my articulated arguments, public health facts and reasonable demeanor. So much isn't fair, but I can do my part, however small, to make some kind of difference. I think that Val and Mack would tell me that's the right thing.