This was meant to be a quick warm up, but it turned into a comic that I’ve wanted to draw for a while. This is something that is extremely important to me, and I appreciate it if you read it.
A while ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A family went a cat shelter to adopt. The daughter fell in love with a 3-legged cat. The father straight up said “absolutely not”. Because he was missing a leg. That cat was that close to having a family that loved him, but the missing leg held him back. Why?!
Many people have the initial instinct of “nope” when they see an imperfect animal. I get it, but less-adoptable does NOT mean less loveable. 9 out of 10 people will choose a kitten over an adult cat. And those 10% that would get an adult cat often overlook “different” animals.
All I want people to do is be open to the idea of having a “different” pet in their lives. Choose the pet that you fall in love with, but at least give all of them a fair shot at winning your heart.
Don’t dismiss them, they deserve a loving home just as much as any other cat. They still purr, they still love a warm lap, they still play, they still love you. Trust me, next time you are in the market for a new kitty, just go over to that one cat that’s missing an eye and see what he’s all about!
Let me tell to you a thing.
This is Lenore. I first saw her in a little cage at the Petco I frequent (I used to take my parents’ dog in for puppy play time), and she looked like the grouchiest, old, crotchety cat in the world, and I fell instantly in love. She was cranky, she was anti-social, hanging out at the back of her cage. Her fur was matted because she wouldn’t let the groomers near her.
She was perfect.
But I didn’t have a place for her. I wasn’t living in my own space yet, and where I was, I wasn’t allowed cats. So I pressed my face to the bars of her cage and I promised that if no one had adopted her by the time I’d bought a house, I would come back for her.
I visited her every week for over six months while I looked for a house. At one point, they had to just shave her entire rear-end because the mats of fur were so bad. They told me she clawed the heck outta the groomer that did it, screamed the entire time, and spent the next two days growling at anyone that came near the cage.
A couple of weeks later, I closed on my house. I went back and I got an employee, and I said: “That one. I need that cat.”
They got the paperwork and the lady who ran the rescue that was bringing the cats in told me that Lenore (at the time, Lila) was 8 years old, had been owned by an elderly lady who had died, and brought in to a different rescue, who’d had her for six months on top of the time I’d been seeing her at Petco.
This kitty had been living in a 3x3’ cube for over a YEAR because she was older and “less adoptable.”
I signed the paperwork, put her in a cat carrier, and drove her to my new home. I had pretty much nothing; a bed, an old couch, a couple of bookcases, and a tank of mice I called “Cat TV”. I let her out of the carrier and onto my bed, and I told her “I told you I would come back for you when I had a place. It’s not much, but it’s yours too now.”
Lenore spent the next three days straight purring non-stop. She followed me around the house purring. Sat next to me purring. Slept next to me purring. Leaning into every touch, purring, purring, always purring. She still purrs if you so much as think about petting her. She’s amazing, and I love her.
So, you know, if you’re thinking about adopting, and you see a beast that others consider “less adoptable,” think about Lenore.
Dangit I’m crying
Crying, too! I don’t care if this is off-topic; it’s too important not to share.
As a humane society volunteer I cannot scroll past this. Please, adopt our older animals!
I feel like a broken cat at the shelter every day.
Please share.
I had my deaf cat for 18 years and i don’t know if i’ll ever meet such a gentle cat again.
It’s been ten years since I added Lenore’s story to this post, and the notes are absolutely chock full of more stories about reasons to adopt the less adoptable kitties, cannot recommend enough going through them. This comic has single handedly inspired so much good in the world for special needs kitties.
Lenore passed on at the ripe old age of 18 (and possibly older, since I never knew her actual birthday/age exactly). She loved us to the very end, and I have no regrets about adopting her. It makes me so happy to see her story continuing to travel, and in combination with this beautiful comic, continuing to inspire folks to adopt adult and special needs cats. If I could have explained it to her, I think she would have liked that as a legacy.
parents will not respect your autonomy, privacy, hobbies, anything and will act shocked when their child who is treated like a doormat actually stands up for themselves.
parents will act like you owe them everything in the world while also not respecting you as a person and will bring up random grudges in an attempt to guilt trip you or break you down.
not to sound like a “rebellious child” but holy shit am I tired of this.
I can tell what time I was in the bathroom this morning because my roommate texted “MOMTHER HOW DARE” as Shayera LOUDLY screamed and attacked the bathroom door I dared to close
This was meant to be a quick warm up, but it turned into a comic that I’ve wanted to draw for a while. This is something that is extremely important to me, and I appreciate it if you read it.
A while ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A family went a cat shelter to adopt. The daughter fell in love with a 3-legged cat. The father straight up said “absolutely not”. Because he was missing a leg. That cat was that close to having a family that loved him, but the missing leg held him back. Why?!
Many people have the initial instinct of “nope” when they see an imperfect animal. I get it, but less-adoptable does NOT mean less loveable. 9 out of 10 people will choose a kitten over an adult cat. And those 10% that would get an adult cat often overlook “different” animals.
All I want people to do is be open to the idea of having a “different” pet in their lives. Choose the pet that you fall in love with, but at least give all of them a fair shot at winning your heart.
Don’t dismiss them, they deserve a loving home just as much as any other cat. They still purr, they still love a warm lap, they still play, they still love you. Trust me, next time you are in the market for a new kitty, just go over to that one cat that’s missing an eye and see what he’s all about!
Let me tell to you a thing.
This is Lenore. I first saw her in a little cage at the Petco I frequent (I used to take my parents’ dog in for puppy play time), and she looked like the grouchiest, old, crotchety cat in the world, and I fell instantly in love. She was cranky, she was anti-social, hanging out at the back of her cage. Her fur was matted because she wouldn’t let the groomers near her.
She was perfect.
But I didn’t have a place for her. I wasn’t living in my own space yet, and where I was, I wasn’t allowed cats. So I pressed my face to the bars of her cage and I promised that if no one had adopted her by the time I’d bought a house, I would come back for her.
I visited her every week for over six months while I looked for a house. At one point, they had to just shave her entire rear-end because the mats of fur were so bad. They told me she clawed the heck outta the groomer that did it, screamed the entire time, and spent the next two days growling at anyone that came near the cage.
A couple of weeks later, I closed on my house. I went back and I got an employee, and I said: “That one. I need that cat.”
They got the paperwork and the lady who ran the rescue that was bringing the cats in told me that Lenore (at the time, Lila) was 8 years old, had been owned by an elderly lady who had died, and brought in to a different rescue, who’d had her for six months on top of the time I’d been seeing her at Petco.
This kitty had been living in a 3x3’ cube for over a YEAR because she was older and “less adoptable.”
I signed the paperwork, put her in a cat carrier, and drove her to my new home. I had pretty much nothing; a bed, an old couch, a couple of bookcases, and a tank of mice I called “Cat TV”. I let her out of the carrier and onto my bed, and I told her “I told you I would come back for you when I had a place. It’s not much, but it’s yours too now.”
Lenore spent the next three days straight purring non-stop. She followed me around the house purring. Sat next to me purring. Slept next to me purring. Leaning into every touch, purring, purring, always purring. She still purrs if you so much as think about petting her. She’s amazing, and I love her.
So, you know, if you’re thinking about adopting, and you see a beast that others consider “less adoptable,” think about Lenore.
Dangit I’m crying
Crying, too! I don’t care if this is off-topic; it’s too important not to share.
As a humane society volunteer I cannot scroll past this. Please, adopt our older animals!
I feel like a broken cat at the shelter every day.
Please share.
I had my deaf cat for 18 years and i don’t know if i’ll ever meet such a gentle cat again.
But what’s happened now is that this has happened so often with so many shows, that Netflix has created a self-fulfilling loop with many series that probably could have gone on to become valuable catalogue additions otherwise.
The idea is that since you know that Netflix cancels so many shows after one or two seasons, ending them on cliffhangers and leaving their storylines unfinished, it’s almost not worth investing in a show until it’s already ended, and you know it’s going to have a coherent ending and finished arc.
So you hold off watching new shows, even ones you might otherwise be interested in, because you’re afraid Netflix will cancel them. Enough people do this and surprise, viewership is low! And the show ends up cancelled. The loop is closed, and reinforced, because now there’s yet another example cited, causing even more people to be cautious the next time around. And now we’ve reached a point where unless a series is some sort of record-breaking fluke megahit (Wednesday) or established super franchise (Stranger Things), a second or third season feels like not even a coinflip, but more like 10-20% shot, at best.
Netflix’s cancelation policies have informed its viewers that if you want a show you like renewed, you need to watch it immediately, you need to tell all your friends to watch it immediately, and you need to finish all episodes in a short period of time. Anything less than that will result in likely cancelation, with the problem being, of course, that this runs contrary to the entire promise of a streaming service like Netflix in the first place. The core concept of “on demand” streaming was that ability to watch what you wanted, when you wanted to. But now binging a series in its opening weekend isn’t just an option to have, it feels almost mandatory, lest the negative data reflect poorly on a show you might otherwise like.
Something has broken with this model. It’s now created a system where creators should be afraid to make a series that dares to end on a cliffhanger or save anything for future seasons, lest their story forever be left unfinished. And viewers are afraid to commit to any show that isn’t a completely aired package lest they spend 10-30 hours on something that ends up unresolved, which has happened dozens and dozens of times, creating a vast “show graveyard” within Netflix, full of landmines viewers are going to be discovering for years.
More at the link.
——
I’ve wondered if it’s driving creators to their competitors too.
I swear if one more person comments on the poly culture post about interplanting wheat and walnuts with allergy handwringing or, worse, Loud and Confident wildly incorrect assertions, Without reading the comments where I clarify that this is not a reasonable danger, I am going to climb a tree and throw green walnuts at them:
They are heavy and fist-sized.
The proteins that cause allergic reactions to tree nuts are in the kernal.
It is not a difficult mechanical process to screen out fist-sized objects from wheat.
Further, wheat is harvested in June or July (winter wheat) or in August (spring wheat)
Walnuts are harvested from September through November.
There is functionally no danger of cross contamination.
Stop it.
Yeah, I mean, I’m actually quite reasonably concerned about cross-contamination in the other direction bc I can’t even eat oats grown on the same field that wheat gets grown on in entirely different years. Celiac ppl have to get our gluten-free grains that usually participate in crop rotation with glutenated grains from dedicated non-gluten fields. I get sick down to 3 parts per million, according to my celiac tests 10 years ago. I can’t even walk into commercial bakeries bc aerated flour getting into my nose just by me breathing the air and then those particles being swallowed has made me sick multiple times in the past. I have to check my shampoo for gluten. So, like.
It’s a really reasonable thing to be concerned about from a celiac direction. Maybe not for nut allergies, but. Gluten is fucking insidious. It gets in everything, sticks to everything - its stickiness is what makes it useful, after all! - and it’s impossible to clean out of a lot of stuff once it’s been contaminated. I had to give away my Kitchenaid mixer when I was diagnosed bc it was functionally impossible for me to clean it enough that it would be safe. So… yeah.
Throw walnuts at me if you must, but please not the ones from those fields. It’s not worth the risk of spending 3 days glued to the toilet with my joints swollen up and aching while my cancer risk skyrockets.
Thanks.
Celiac is not an allergy - it’s an autoimmune disorder. Basically, if gluten gets into my small intestine, it makes my immune system irrationally angry, and it spends several days running around inside my body, smashing things, lighting them on fire, and then peeing on them.
I don’t know how other food allergies work bc I don’t have any, but celiac is … a monster. I hate it.
My apologies. I know it’s an autoimmune disorder yet that detail completely slipped my mind when I made those tags. Damn brain fog. Thank you for correcting me and I’m sorry, I should know better.
It’s okay. Most people don’t know that. I don’t mind explaining it for people who don’t know.
