Second Class Animals Make First Class Pets

A Photo Essay By

Alexia Bohnenkamper

Raffiki pounces into hischeetah print cat tube as hechases after a mouse toy thatwas thrown in. Adopted froman animal shelter about ayear ago at the age of 1, hecame into his new home withfear of everything. However,after his owners had workedwith him, Raffiki blossomedinto a new cat. His ownerseven say, “If you had seenhim a year ago, you wouldn’tbelieve it was him!”

Raffiki’s owner takes him for a walk along the outside of the house. Although it may seem strange to walk a cat on a leash, it is for his own

safety to ensure he does not run away. Because Raffiki was adopted, he must be watched over with a little more attention. His owners adopted him from

and event similar to the one at Johns Gannon’s Pet Resort.

Cars cram into the parking lot and line up and down the road to attend the John Gannon’s Pet Resort Animal Adoption Day on November 9th, 2014. Just like

Raffiki, many animals have the potential to be adopted and brought into loving homes. Although from the outside it appears to be peaceful, inside the event there

is utter chaos with over 80 cats and dogs awaiting their adoption.

Inside the John Gannon’spet adoption, there aretwo rooms; one with dogsand one with cats. In thedog room, the animalsare more free. They runaround on leashes andplay in pens wherepotential adoptees’ caninteract with them.However, in the cat roomthey are put into cages.

Although Pumpkin (Right) and Sadie (Left) appear to not be the happiest, when taken out of the cage they come to life. Kittens like

theses two need homes where they can run free and play.

Kristen (center) talks to potential owners as they look at the kittens in front of them. Kristen fosters all the cats and kittens at her own home. She has about 16 and brings them to events like this one. However, she says that she can no longer take cats into her home to foster unless people start adopting them. This problem of overcrowding is also happening in a lot of other kennels.

Many animals that areup for adoption havenot been treatedproperly. Dotie, thisbeautiful wide-eye catwas found on the side ofthe road. He clearly hadsigns of abuse and wasvery malnourished. Justas Raffiki, Kristen saysthat he was terrifiedduring humaninteraction. However,when given the properlove, he became one ofher friendliest cats.

Even Dotie’s name tag says he is very friendly regardless of what he has gone through.

During the adoption event, people gathered around Lily (Left) and Boo (Right) to hear their amazing story and watch over them as they sleep. Theses two angels were

found outside chained to a fence with no shelter. Their bodies still show signs of scars and Lilies ears are torn apart. However, someone got inspired by their story

and decided to adopt them both. They no longer have to worry about their past, but now can enjoy their new home and live as happily as a dog can.

There is also the case that ananimal up for adoption isdisabled. Sophie had to haveboth of her eyes removed dueto infection when she wasjust a puppy and she is nowwaiting near the door for hernew family that can give herthe attention she needs, towalk in. Although she is beingfostered, there are also otherdogs in the household. Sheneeds to be part of a familythat she is the main attentionof. However, just becauseSophie is disabled does notmean she cannot be a lovingpet! She walks right up topeople and plays with themjust as a normal dog would.

Sadly, not all stories have a happy ending. Sometimes an animal has not found their match with an owner. Its important that any potential owners go to events such as

this one. Their perfect match for a pet may be there and may need their help. Although Oreo (center) was not abused or disabled, he was not adopted. He seemed very eager to get out of the pen and jumped towards anyone that walked by begging

to be picked up.

Oreos brothers are alsofull of energy and couldnot stop playing with thetennis ball for a second soa picture could be taken.They plan on attendinganother event next weekand hopefully there theyare able to find homesthat fit their needs. Even ifowners want a animal, inorder to adopt them theymust fill out applicationsto ensure that the pet’spersonality matches theadopters. Some evenrequire home visits andrandom check ups toensure the safety of theadopted pets.

When an animal is matched upwith an owner that is a perfectmatch for them, the animal is nolonger just an animal. The animalis now a pet. The pet is given asecond chance to be loved, andthe owner will have a loyalcompanion that could neverthank them enough or leave theirside. Janice sits on the floorhugging Coco who she justadopted. Janice says that thesecond she had seen him sheknew he was the one. Many otheranimals that were notappreciated before, found theirowners at the Jon Gannon’s PetResort Adoption Day. However,there are many others that stillneed to be adopted. Second handanimals make first class pets,they just need to be given achance.