I wouldn’t dare offer this advice if I hadn’t once taken it myself, and was blessed for doing so.
When our cats Buster and Missie died, years ago, Patty and I were just about crushed with grief. Those two cats loved us like crazy, and we loved them.
A few days afterward, we met a friend who had just lost her dog some weeks ago. She and that dog were very close, I knew.
She let her daughter talk her into going to the animal shelter and bringing home a rescue dog. “That’s the thing for you to do–go to the shelter and rescue a cat,” she said. “In fact, the sooner you do it, the happier you’ll be.”
So we went to the shelter, and I learned something there–something that I’ll never forget.
Here it is: There is always a cat out there that needs you. (This applies the same to dog-lovers.) I felt like I wanted to bring all those cats at the shelter home with me. We wound up with two kittens, Robbie and Peep.
So if there’s a cat-shaped hole in your life–fill it! There is a cat that needs you, in a shelter somewhere: a cat that will love you, and be loved by you.
It doesn’t have to be a kitten. There are mature and even elderly cats who need homes, and who already know how to behave themselves indoors. Cats whose owners have died, or been hospitalized. Nice, calm cats who will not climb up on top of your refrigerator and knock things down.
See, this is one of those extra blessings that God thought of including in His creation–one of those things that we never would have thought of.
There is always a cat or dog out there who needs you.