More Free to Good Home Cautionary Tales

[CyberKitten]

Every week you see them in the ads. section of the papers "free kittens to good homes". The following tale is a warning to everyone who puts these ads in the papers for kittens, pups and dogs.The ad said "free kittens to good homes" and a telephone number. Over the next few days several people called to see and collect the kittens. As each person left, the woman said to the person "you make sure it gets a good home, I am fond of it".The first kitten to leave was a ginger female. Her four year old owner loved her to bits, but she accidentally injured the kitten's shoulder picking her up the wrong way. The child could not be blamed - nobody showed her the correct way to pick up a kitten. She named the kitten 'Ginger', but was very upset a few weeks later when her brother's friends "sat on it".The next to go was the white male with blue eyes, The person who took him named him 'Snowy'. Sadly, 'Snowy' never learned his name and as the new owner paid little attention to him, never realised he was deaf. His first adventure out of doors ended in disaster - he never heard the car.The next to go was a grey and white female who went to live in a neighbour's farm, and like her mother she was a mouser. Unlike her brother and sister she wasn't even given a name, but fell ill after repeat pregnancies, and died, leaving a new born litter.The last 2 kittens went to a pretty woman who wanted the two so they could remain together for life. She later sold them to a laboratory for Euro10 each. They are together as she promised - in a jar of alcohol.All the kittens arrived in heaven at the same time. They all played together, licked each other in delight and then together passed through the gates, passing a sign in big gold letters "YOU ARE FINALLY FREE KITTENS".The moral to this tale is: never hand over a kitten or any animal without checking where it is going. Never give it away free - take a donation and give it to a charity of your choice if you wish, and always get a name and address and follow up where they went. Other wise they could end up like any of the kittens above.

thank you
M. O'Sullivan (sec/pro)
galway spca