I Am A Forever Cat
Update: We’re taking Tuesday off until further notice.
This is Merlin on a lovely spring edition of Mondays With Merlin. You may think I have a good life and I do, but it wasn’t always this way. Layla adopted me and my sister Angel Coco few days before our first birthday from a person who adopted us as young kittens. People often have good intentions, but this person’s unstable life made commitment difficult. We were shunted about to four temporary homes in less than a year. Every time she hoped circumstances would allow her take us back. She really tried but finally realized it was kinder to find someone who could and asked Layla. Now Layla was no stranger to moving and change but she promised me a forever home. It hasn’t always been easy in the past seventeen years and eight months. There were more moves and bumps in the road including a bumpy airplane ride from Canada to the U.S. but I never had to worry about having a home with my mom. I knew I was a forever cat.
It’s every cat’s dream to have a forever home and not be a “just until” cat. We can educate about the need for commitment but life is unpredictable and we can only do our best. People who never imagined going bankrupt, losing a job or their home have had their lives turned upside down. Tragedy can strike from sudden illness, death, to floods and hurricanes. Despite catastrophic odds, some remain determined to take care of their pets no matter what. Knowing what we can and cannot do is the first step to wisdom. Many years ago a well-intentioned cat lover taught Layla about commitment by having faith her. She couldn’t keep me but she did the next best thing.
24 Comments
How To Forget Your Ex Boyfriend Who Dumped You
Thanks a ton for this particular piece of writing. I will talk about it with people I know.
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Penelope
What a great post! We all knows we is with Mommy and Daddy forever. If anything ever happened to them, we knows we has a home with our human brother. We is family!
Kisses
nellie
Ms. Phoebe
Merlin mew always mesmerize me with mewz truth and wise thoughts. I agree with everything mew said and am lucky to be a forever cat too. The people who had me my first 3 yrs of life never fixed me and then didn’t want me when I was due to have baby kits, so their idea to solve the problem was to dump me alone out in the country a few days before I was ready to give birth, in the cold of February! HISS! I was lucky to find a house where some kind people took pity and let me in to have a warm, safe spot to have my babies. They could not keep us but took us to the local no kill shelter to adopt humans. My babies adopted their humans and found good forever homes, and then I saw my Mom and chose her! She was outraged and saddened by my story and promised me no matter what, we would always be together and if something ever happened to her going to the Bridge before me, she would leave arrangements for me to have a forever home.
I am thankful to the lady who brought mew and mewz sister to Auntie Layla and that mew both were able to be in a forever home for the rest of mewz lives. Purrs of love to mew and mewz family for spreading the word. Mewmew!
Layla Morgan Wilde
Thanks so much for sharing your special adoption story Ms. Phoebe.
Glogirly and Katie
Beautiful photo, Merlin!
As much as I like to joke around about not wanting Waffles to be a forever brother, I am very happy to have a loving and forever home…even with him. I’m happier when the Cat Sitter isn’t here though…
; ) KATIE
Pee S:
YES! The rumors are true…Glogirly is finally home from vacation. My *captivity by Cat Sitter* has officially come to an end. That is until BlogPaws.
Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal
Merlin me and mom too , agree with every word you said !
Abby
Merlin we agree with every word you said.
CATachresis
Well said Merlin. It has been a joke in our family that Austin’s bags were packed, so he could leave any time he wanted. But he didn’t want! 🙂
Skeeter and Izzy
Foreever cats are the only kind I know. There may come a time when God forbid, I cannot honor that commitment but I will never give up my babies unless I can no longer provide food,shelter and medical care to keep them safe,happy and healthy (Iwill probably be dead). I can honestly say that I WILL do WITHOUT to PROVIDE for them because I DID make that FOREVER COMMITMENT. Merlin we are so glad that you and Coco were blessed with finding the love,security,and happiness of your forever home too. We love you! Luvs Skeeter, Izzy and the Feral Gang Shadow, Sunny, Tiger and Daddy Kat….who, by the way ,are forever cats too! >^..^<
Mary Matthews
Well said, Merlin!
Connie Marie
Merlin, you are a wise cat. There’s a reason you’re here,, you have a lot left to teach.
I meant this to be on a lighter note, I read the comment from Anonymous and it touched me so.
You were sick, but sprang back from it, looking great and going for the important life matters. Thank you.
Marilia
ConCats! I love your post! We live with FOREVER CATS!
Brian
You wisdom is showing again Merlin, and I love it!
Caren Gittleman
that is a beautiful and important quote that I have seen and love it in combination with your photo. It is also an important message. Too many do not realize that Pets are forever.
Tamago
Great post! My boys are forever kitties too. Merlin, you’ve found such wonderful home with caring mom!
da tabbies o trout towne
grate post dood…we hope no one ever hasta go thru sum thin that ree sults in ther havin ta give up a kitteh ore a pup
spesh a lee when they try ther veree best two keep uz…..but we R all sew thanx full when they DUE triez ther veree best
ta make sure that kitteh ore pup finds a new for evers home….hope ewe haza marvelous mackerull monday…hope domino iz
knot …caked out…. !!
Texas, a cat in New York
That’s a very beautiful and wise post, Merlin. I am glad that you found Layla. But it is also true that sometimes, events are beyond what humans can foresee and/or manage. I know my human would be devastated if she had to separate from me. I am glad to be a Forever Cat too.
Lots of purrs
The Island Cats
What an important message, Merlin! We believe in forever homes, and though circumstances may arise that humans can’t control, humans need to understand when they adopt a dog or a kitty, it IS forever. Though your life didn’t start out smoothly, we’re glad that your first human realized she couldn’t keep you and you found your forever home!
Sam and Pam
Merlin, I too am a forever cat….and indeed cats and all homeless animals yearn for that above all else….to know safety, comfort, security and love. We are lucky and I would wish that for all.
Kitty hugs and Happy Monday……..Sammy
Anonymous
Exactly.
My parents . . . were scientists who worked on cats from the pound, for drug research. It was very valuable research, phenobarbital for seizures, ritalin for ADHD, and so on. The cats were spinalized and didn’t feel anything.
We got our cats from my parent’s lab, too.
But when Kemal developed crystals, when Tawny and Ginger got ringworm and gave it to me, when…Kitty the II became old…
My parents never saved our kitties.
When my boyfriend took me to the Lakeshore Animal Hospital in Chicago for my 21st birthday, I vowed I’d keep Emma Peel forever. I never thought she live long enough so that any kids I’d have would remember her. My kids, now 25 and 21, remember Emma when Emma died at 20, and my kids were 4 and 18 months.
Emma moved back to Montreal with me, and then to Toronto and then to Boston. When I had to go to Chicago for a year, my boyfriend (not the other boyfriend) took care of her.
I’d hoped I’d be with Emma when she went. After the kids were born — she began to be by herself more. Especially, after my second one. She stayed in the shelving in the basement. She grew weaker. One morning, I went to change the laundry. I changed the laundry, which took all of 30 seconds. I came back to go upstairs. In that 30 seconds, Emma crawled from the shelving to the middle of the floor and expired. She had wanted to be with me, too.
Ched and Mao are 11, and they have a forever home with us, too.
Anonymous
This is Kathryn
Sparkle
To my human, there is no such thing as a temporary cat (unless the cat is meant to be a foster, of course). She could not imagine any other way but having a permanent home for a cat she brings to live with her.
Ms. Phoebe
My human says this too! Unfortunately she even falls for the fosters as my annoying brother Kaspars was supposed to only be a foster- well, that was over 10 yrs ago!