We’re all been there right? A bottle of wine and suddenly … there’s the tiny pitter patter of little feet!
Yes that’s right you’ve gotten a cat.
First up I want to say that please remember that a cat (or a dog for that matter) is not just for Christmas. They are a big commitment and shouldn’t just be gotten willy nilly for kids. Who’ll be looking after them after Christmas? What are you going to do when you go home for 3 or 4 weeks to visit your family on the other side of the planet? What are you going to do when you go on Summer Holidays in August?
Once upon a time I really disliked cats but we ended up getting one anyways because we had the talk … that’s right .. my wife said she wanted one!
Enter Squishy .. who we ended up rescuing from a hotel in Connemara. Tiny little ginger ball who wasn’t too well at the start. Moved to Dublin … brought the cat … moved to Madrid … brought the cat … moved to France … and guess what? that’s right … brought the cat 🙂
While here and living up near Zola my wife got involved in an association – http://www.association-chiens-chats-et-compagnie.fr/
As a result we ended up being a foster family for a number of kittens and other cats. Hang on foster family? That’s right we ended up minding a number of cats while they were waiting to be re homed (mostly due to the lack of space at their main premises) and they are pretty much always looking for foster families. Is it easy to foster cats? Well yes and no. Having little kitties like Paul and Nick below for a few weeks is amazing but you may end up very attached to them.
In the end I think we ended up fostering 7 kittens? (4 the above with two sisters) … two other brothers … another little female, we had another larger ginger stay with us as well.
We ended up taking in two fully grown cats Cookie and Felix (brothers) who were possibly going to not get to stay together and seemed pretty miserable in the shelter.
We put our heads together though …
and they quickly became part of the family!
So much so that we ended up adopting them. They are with us now for about 7 years.
So how does this relate to my 24 posts of December? Well many people end up getting pets for Christmas and I’d like you to think of getting one from an animal shelter. If you’re not here long term? maybe you could think about helping out and fostering a kitty for a bit? It can be tough to say goodbye to them, but when you know they are going on to a forever home it’s kinda nice.
You can find more details about the Association Chiens, Chats, et Compagnie on their website http://www.association-chiens-chats-et-compagnie.fr/ the cats they have up for adoption, their need for volunteers
Please note they do have a fee for adopting cats you can find full details on their pages. The cats end up getting their shots and being sterilised as well.
There are of course other associations https://www.facebook.com/GriffesEspoir44/
The big one I think is the SPA http://www.spa44.fr/
Have you rescued a cat or dog in Nantes? Why not send a photo on and I’ll try to include a picture 🙂
