The Smelker Seven

San Antonio's Pet Population

Last year in June, iMuse (AKA my Hubby Terry) blogged regarding the sheer number of strays in San Antonio. There are several shelters here in town, many of them small, privately owned and struggling to make ends meet; several no-kill shelters and yet others that have a 48-72 hour hold on animals before putting them to sleep.

Even with organisations like SNAP, and assistance from many local vets to help low income families spay and neuter their pets, the number of stray cats and dogs is staggering. Unfortunately here in San Antonio there is a very prevelant attitude of machismo, defined by Merriam as: a strong sense of masculine pride :an exaggerated masculinity, AND an exaggerated or exhilarating sense of power or strength. I have talked to several 20-something young men about neutering their animal (cat or dog, but most often their dog), and they all get a pained look on their face, crouch protectively and say, "Oh no. I am not putting my animal through that!" One young man said to me that since he watched One Night With The King he will NEVER neuter an animal because he saw eunuchs in the movie. He seems to think (as do many men) that the same feelings the eunuchs have are the same his animal will have! It is so frustrating dealing with that mentality; even more so since he saw how little Drake's neutering affected him. The kitten came home from his surgery and bounded around the house that same evening.

I 'preach' spaying and neutering wherever I go because every animal we have in the house now (except for the snake) has been picked up off the street - literally. Remember my blog about Puma? Terry almost ran him down, and the kitten was so petrified he sat in four lanes of traffic quaking.

On Friday morning I met a woman who lives not far from me and she was carrying a small kitten. She had just found it in her yard, and decided that she would keep him. (Thank God for people like her!) I didn't think too much of it, although I mentioned to Terry that evening that she had found this kitten. On Saturday evening Hayley and I were driving home from church, along the same street and a little black streak bolted across the street, right in front of my van. I skidded to a stop and Hayley and I got out and tried to catch the tiny feline. I briefly touched it before it was off again. We drove the last 1/4 mile home and told Terry about this kitten.

On Sunday morning I was driving back from church, along the same street, and about 3 houses down from where we'd seen the kitten the night before when deja vu struck! Ony this time it was an off-white kitten, and it bolted across the street into the drainage ditch. I stopped the van, and caught it. This little male looks like he is siamese, with big blue eyes, and traditional markings. I brought him home even though I promised Terry I would not bring any more animals into the house!

Terry and the kids returned home about 2 hours later. In that time the kitten had already made himself at home. Drake and Puma, our other two kittens (Drake is now 6 months old, Puma 4 months) had given him a bath, played with him and were curled up on the couch with him. Chloe, the old lady of the group gave him her usual disdainful look and strolled away. The kids were understandably excited about a new arrival. We had all missed Cody, the kitten we only had for four days so much. But I wasn't sure about Terry's reaction. He immediately pulled out some kitten food (I had an extra can left) and fed him. As the kitten was eating, Terry looked at me and said, "His name is Pewter." His fur is almost the exact colour of pewter. So, now we have Puma and Pewter.


As happy as I am to have another kitten (I have been teased that if I were not married, I would be the stereotypical cat lady!) I am distressed at how he came into our lives. It is no coincidence that in the span of three days three different kittens were spied in the same area. My bet is someone dumped these kittens in our neighborhood, not caring what would happen to them once they were abandoned. At least two of the three are now safe. And there are now three animals (Drake, Puma and Pewter) who will never be able to reproduce and add to the pet population problem that is rampant here in San Antonio.

Labels: Chloe, Drake, Pets, Pewter, Puma, spay and neuter

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 10:14 AM