Age Discrimination

A few weekends ago, I worked an adoption event.  My last for that particular group, as it turned out.  I'm still at the adoption center with a different rescue; I'm concentrating my efforts on that group for now.  A group with fewer crazy people, if ya know what I mean.

Anyway, this is the time of year when we generally don't have any kitten-kittens, just older kittens, so things are usually a little slow.

But!  A lovely elderly woman was smitten with Moses.  Remember Moses?  He'd been in foster care for a while, and was turning from a kitten to a teenager.  So I was really, really glad when this woman expressed an interest in him.

She had a six-year-old cat who had passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago.  She lived alone, and all of a sudden her apartment was awfully quiet.  She was looking for a cuddly, affectionate cat, which describes Moses to at T.  He had gone from being a shy little kitten to being a friendly, almost needy young man.  Perfect match!

She filled out an application, and I called the FC to let her know.  Imagine my surprise when I was going through emails that evening, and saw this email, to the FC, from another volunteer who attended the event:

"An older lady filled out an application for Moses. She seemed quite taken with him and he seemed to like her. I'm a little concerned about her age and his habit of winding his way through your legs. I would hate to see her trip and break a bone.  I also don't know what would happen to him if she passes away. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes for this application."

whaaaaaaaa?

As I've said before, during The Great Catnip Toy Debacle of 2013, I'm not sure I'm cut out for this volunteer stuff.  ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE?

My reply:

"I think Moses would be fine for this woman - her cat who passed away was fairly young (six years old), so it's not like she wasn't used to having an active cat around. She loved to take it to the community room in the complex so the other residents could play with it. And the woman's sister also lives in the same apartment complex, so it's not like the cat would be deserted if the owner passed away. And the woman's daughter was with her today - there are plenty of people to care for the cat, if something should happen. And the woman is still active and driving - it's not like she's an invalid.. I just feel like turning somebody down because they're "too old" is, well - I just don't agree with it.  Just wanted to add my two cents - "

LOOK.  I think it's perfectly fine to ask an elderly person who wants to adopt, "Have you thought about what might happen to your pets if something happened to you?"  I think it's alright to ask that of EVERYBODY, as far as that goes. I DO NOT think it's alright to have an "age limit".  Oh, some shelters and rescues do.  Some of them cut people off at age SEVENTY, which is CRAZY.

You know what?  *I*, at the ripe old age of 50, might get hit by a truck tomorrow.  Hey, it could happen!  And yes, as you age, your odds of, well, dying, increase.  But to say to someone, "No pets for you!" because they've "too old" is just plain nuts.

As a matter of fact, at that same adoption event, I was chatting with the local librarian, who happened to stop by.  And she was talking about how her father-in-law had just adopted a cat to keep him company.  His age?  Ninety-three.  You know what I said?  Yippee!  Good for him for adopting an companion animal.

Does he need to make provisions for the cat in case something happens to him?  Of course.  I did it for my pets.  (They will go with one of my sisters.  We have a reciprocal pet agreement.)  We all need to make plans for our pets in case of our deaths.  That said, you make the provisions, and then life goes on.  For all of us.

I do not understand these crazy-ass cat people.  I just don't get it.