...since I last wrote I have gone through at least part of every pet owner’s nightmare; I lost my home to bankruptcy.
A few years ago We bought a beautiful 1940’s bungalow home in a pleasant neighborhood in North Portland. We were both working good jobs, felt stable, like we had finally arrived. In under sixteen months, both of those jobs were gone – flushed by economics that had nothing to do with us. Temporary and contract jobs only go so far, even those get hard to find. We took in boarders, went down to one car, sold what we could, only turned on the heat when there was company, shopped smart, didn’t travel or spend where it was not needed. Still it wasn’t going to be enough. We made it a few very fine, if tenuous, years there. Then there was nothing else left. We were faced with the impossible: couch surfing, moving in with distant relations who had no room or welcome for our pets, or perhaps an RV that we might be able to borrow.
Our cats we found potential foster for with friends in different states. It would be heart-rending to send them away but we knew (hoped, prayed) they’d be safe. The dogs however…Rio is a difficult but well trained dog. He has dog-to-dog issues after being attacked a number of times and is sound-sensitive and badly shaken by changes. He will bite but has never broken skin. Rio will scream and lash out when frightened. He is fiercely bonded to our Moon. Our Moon is a gentle, if needy dog, but a cancer survivor with all the medical alertness that goes along with caring for a dog of her background. Where would these dogs go? Would our cats settle in and let themselves be cared for as they should?
I cried and screamed. I begged from a lot of different folks – hoping for some outcome that would keep us together. It twisted my brain and heart to go through different permutations of the same questions. If all else failed – there were the shelters…
The miracle came in the form of a job offer in Northern California. We packed everything we could in two weeks, into a 17 foot trailer, and moved Halloween Night. We left/lost/abandoned so much driving away from our home but we were all still together.
When, as a member of the public, a shelter volunteer, or a front-line Intake shelter employee you are face-to-face with someone surrendering their pet: please look at them, make eye contact, be sympathetic, be gentle; tragedies do happen to real people. If you bring honest support to these interactions, if you assume the best, only better can come of it in the long run.
