Talking of National Parents Week, I have felt the need to step in and protect my own parents recently. Six months ago they applied to a London branch of the Cat Protection Society to adopt a homeless kitten, all this 18 months after their much loved cat died peacefully of old age. All very simple you may think, the agent visited them at their spacious home in order to assess suitability and on leaving assured them that she would be in touch as soon as a kitten needing adoption came in to the shelter. Much time passed until my parents, disappointed that no-one from the agency had been in touch since the visit, decided to contact the agency themselves for an update…staggeringly they were brutally advised that the reason for the agency’s silence was because it had been decided that my parents were too old to adopt a kitten. TOO OLD AT 71? HOW DARE THEY!!!
It has taken my family many thousands of hours over the last couple of years to encourage my mother, who has been life threateningly ill during that time, to believe that life is actually worth living (which happily she now firmly believes) only for her to be told by some insulting and jurassic cat adoption agency….not an agency for IVF or human adoption, Formula One racing, bungee jumping, airplane walking, nightclub hostessing, catwalk modelling or Page 3….no, no, no.. A CAT PROTECTION AGENCY!!!! that she is way too old to have a kitten. How do they know that she won’t live for another 20 years and how is it possible in these days of solidarity and equal opportunity across the board that such an establishment can be allowed to flaunt an imaginary banner in front of someone’s eyes and dispassionately announce that their number is nearly up?
My job this week was clear, not rocket science is it? I had to go out and buy a kitten for my parents myself as their confidence has now been totally devastated. In my opinion no-one is ever, ever too old to re-home a homeless animal and although the kitten we have bought for her is not being adopted because of homelessness it is certainly going to the most wonderful new home in the world!
Long Live My Mum (she may even make it to 100!) and Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Ellie xoxox
P.S Idiots.