I stopped at Petco tonight to pick up two bags of food for our six cats (total cost: $60) and on my way out I spotted the two in-store cats who are available for adoption through the 4Paws rescue group. I left my cart in the middle of the store and went to pet them quickly, then I brought the food out to my trunk and went back to pet the cats. I saw Missy and Monroe. Missy squeaked (just like perigee’s cat Callie) for attention but only let me pet her for a couple of seconds before becoming very frightened and cowering in the corner. Monroe, on the other hand, reminded me of our cat Truffle in build, personality, and the “I’m going to flop down and look lazy now” pose. After I petted Monroe a bit, I went back to Missy; she squeaked at me more and let me pet her for another few seconds before cowering in the corner again.

I really wish I could adopt a bunch of 4Paws cats, but we can’t; becoming a foster home is out of the question too. I can’t afford to donate money, but I looked at the organization’s page about volunteering and I noticed two jobs I could do. I don’t think I could handle the person-to-person interfacing required for voicemail, home visits, or working an adoption fair…but I could be a store volunteer in the evening or transport cats on the weekends. I’ve e-mailed them to ask what I can do to help.

It surprises me that I’m willing to make the outreach step of contacting the organization. Normally I prefer to come home every night after work and sit here with my wife and my computer and my own cats…but I’ve been reaching out more lately. I went out two nights in a row with my new friends, yesterday I tried to meet up with aidan_boi_x, and today I tried to meet up with dayzeeedogg. (The latter two meetups failed, but I did try, which is unusual for me.) So just the fact that I’m willing to conceive of giving up a few hours to help take care of homeless cats is surprising to me. Now I need to really do it, and make a difference in some feline lives.