Adopting a Cat? Please Go to Pet Pride

So this weekend I decided it was time to upgrade my sheets and towels (long past time actually, as my fraying bath towel could attest). That left me with the problem of what to do with my old stuff. I hate to just throw things away, so my girlfriend suggested I take them to an animal shelter. It seems they use them as bedding and such for the pets.

I am not much of a pet person; I prefer people, and I decided a homeless person might benefit more from my old stuff. So I walked over to my local Ralph’s where there is always at least one homeless person standing outside asking for change. Of course, there was one there. I said, “Hey, would you like a blanket?” He looked at me, then over at the blanket, scowled and walked away. At least people standing on the corner were impressed with my attempted act of kindness.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have offered someone a down comforter on an 85 degree day.

In any case, that’s when I decided to go with the animals — they wouldn’t reject me. If I had to choose I would take a cat over a dog (not very manly, I know), so I found a cat shelter nearby.

Pet Pride is located at 3350 S. Robertson Blvd., right near the 10 where Robertson begins (or ends, depending on how you want to look at it). It is a place I’ve driven past dozens of times and never noticed; perhaps you have, too.

I was just going to drop off my bags and leave, but the very nice man (whose name I did not get) invited me in to see the cats. I expected a few cats, so I was shocked when I walked onto an outdoor porch where there were more than a dozen cats. Several of them ran up to me and rubbed on my legs, as cats are wont to do. I asked how many cats they have and he said 200!

These were the sweetest cats I’d ever seen. None of them swatted or hissed at me when I petted them. They weren’t afraid or jumpy like many cats are.

So why am I writing about this? Well, all of the cats were adults, which means the likelihood of them getting adopted is very low. Most people go for the adorable kittens and shun the adults. The man told me many of the cats spend their entire lives there; it is, after all, a no-kill shelter. It is not a terrible life — they are very well cared for. But I could tell these cats are starved for attention, as there is only so much attention three workers can give to 200 individual cats.

I have to admit, this room had a bit of a creepy “The Birds” vibe to it!

So I urge anyone out there thinking about adopting a cat to check the place out and select an adult cat which really needs a home. Even if you are not adopting, the place is open for people just to come in and play with the cats. Here is the website.

And just for the record, I did not adopt one, although I really wanted to. I live in a no-pet building and besides, I am kind of allergic.