~ Mi Gatito~ Ofelia Esparza
So I’m walking home and I’m crossing the street and I see this couple crossing and the girl waving good bye behind her. I’m thinking she’s waiving to a friend but as I make my way across the sidewalk I don’t see anyone. I get to the corner only to see a BABY KITTY meowing under a sign for rotisserie chicken. Without even thinking twice about it I pick him up and the BABY KITTY starts purring and caressing me as if I was his mom. I’m an animal lover and when I saw that BABY KITTY standing there meowing, I knew I had to pick him up. I was going to go home and drop some stuff so I could take him to the animal shelter, but something interesting happened on my way home.
This couple stopped me to admire the BABY KITTY and his cute as a button personality. I asked them if they wanted the BABY KITTY since I found him. I told them that when I take him to the animal shelter, he’s going to get looked over, get his shots and put up for adoption cause he’s a BABY KITTY. But with the way things are, I wasn’t sure how long the BABY KITTY would be at the shelter alive or they would even bother giving him a check up so he could be adopted because of La Crisis. Luckily the guy offered to take him home even after i asked him three times if he could take care of BABY KITTY. So I handed BABY KITTY over and we went our separate ways. So what’s the moral of story, in the words of Bob Barker, “Help control Americas pet population. Spay or neuter your pet.” There are soo many pets all over ther city because people are too irresponsible to properly look after them or because they lost everything and couldn’t take them with. With soo many people losing houses and jobs, pets have been getting dumped at pounds now more than ever and with the city getting tight on money, the city pound can’t afford to keep them all up for very long. Please look after your animals folks. I’m lucky that I have a friend that will let me keep my dog at their house, other wise I would have giving her up for adoption. My Harley means the world to me and even though I see her everyday right now, I do my part and look after her. I’m not alone but the majority of pet owners forget about them the minute they stop being cute and crap on the wrong place. That’s when they get tied up in the back yard and are abandoned to say the least. So look after your pets folks and do your part in controlling the pet population. I would take in every stray dog I see if I could and feed BABY KITTIES all day long, but if the numbers keep growing, even I won’t be able to help them.
Thank you El Random Hero, for bringing light to a not so talked about issue. I didn’t know you were a hero by practice.
It would be possible to not euthanise animals if people would spay and neuter their pets and if people would not buy from breeders but instead rescue them from a shelter or sidewalk.
Proud companion of two mixed rescued pitbulls.
Loved this post. It breaks my heart, and I’m sure broke owners’ hearts, when these victims of “La Crisis” had no choice but to leave their pets at shelters. I know victims.
Now, would we start putting people to sleep just because we couldn’t find homes for them?
Sad, indeed.
El Random Hero,
I want to start off by saying great picture, I love Ofelia Esparza’s work, she is always at Self Help Graphics during its events and I have bought many of her paintings, she is also a wonderful person.
I can relate to your story, a few months after I bought my home I had a momma kitty come and drop one of her kitties in my back yard, I began to feed the kitty and the momma and before I new it they had made my back yard their home. Momma kitty was ferral so I couldnt catch her to neuter her, so sure enough she brought me 5 more kittens!!!! She seemed to disapear after leaving me the kittens which were raised to be non-ferral and have been neutered. I totally agree with you about having your pets neutered. The city of LA’s animal shelters give out free vouchers for this. There is also this wonderful veternarian in Highland Park on Figueroa called Dr. Vasquez who provides dirt cheap services and he is really good, he says his prices are cheap to help out the community.
If anyone is interested he is at:
5550 North Figueroa
Los Angeles
323-258-8068
Never lose your good heart.
i’m really glad you are bringing this up. there are way too may unfixed cats and dogs in the neighborhood. i hear there are vouchers to get they spay/neuter for cheap. thank you for the vet info cuca racha. i have already adopted one stray and have gotten him fixed and am trying to tame a little siamese that has started eating on our porch. hopefully we can get her fixed soon. the shelters are way overloaded and are euthanizing most of the animals that wind up there. every cat or dog that gets fixed keeps countless other poor animals from starving to death or being euthanized. everyone, adopt and fix an animal!
I hear you guys we have a lot of strays in our neighborhood – I think people just dump them off the freeway and they come down to scavenge.
If anybody wants to adapt a sweet young-ish kitty send me an email via the site and I’ll hook you up with one.