Plethora of Everything

Lisa, So here it is 2 weeks later and I'm still thinking about you. It all started in recovery, that's where we first met. It was hectically busy for me that day, as always. I hustled into the recovery room to retrieve a recently sterilized dog for an adopter or a foster, the particular dog or person it was for I cannot recall, only that I was in recovery to get someone's dog. Partially laying on your side, partially sitting upright, in a bottom corner cage with big doe eyes, and an even bigger belly, you caught my eye. Then I took a quick moment to consciously focus my attention on you. You looked like a deer caught in the headlights, almost frozen, nearly expressionless. The fact that you looked and acted a lot like a dog I had fostered months ago and seeing your big, protruding belly brought on an instant surge of nearly-overwhelming empathy. "I'll be back to see you. Tomorrow I'll get you out, I promise. Hang in there," I said to you, almost ster...

Some will relate to this. Some will not. As Adoption Coordinator at Miami's municipal animal shelter it often seems important messages I try to relay are falling on deaf ears. They are. Daily I encounter people turning in their pets because, "they're moving, they've had a new baby, they've lost their job, the pet was never really theirs and they were just watching it- for a few months or years, and so on and so on." Time and time again I respond saying things such as, "Your pet should be a part of your family. A pet is not disposable, it's a living, breathing,sentient being. This should be your absolute last option. Have you weighed your other options? I moved here from Kentucky and brought my 2 dogs, cat and bird along with me- moving is not a reason to surrender a pet, and so on and so forth." Time and time again I hear great ideas from shelter volunteers. They say things like, "Why doesn't the shelter do follow up calls for adopte...