All seniors are super
This month hits a little closer to home.
At 16 this month, Her Royal Highness, Karma Kitty, is a super senior (that hits sometime after auspicious year No. 13). Her magnificent coat — I'll deny saying it if you tell her — is only a little lacking in luster. Her once robust frame is decidedly more petite despite her partial Maine Coon heritage. And her fire, blazing as ever with ire, is diminished only by the modest decrease in power she puts behind the punch, with fewer spiky swipes for a transgression, and somewhat more pitiful protestations to belabor her point (which is, as always, a redress of serious grievance).
It's a joy to have a senior in the house.
Once you adjust to the signs of senility in your pet, you quickly appreciate this stage at least as much, if not more, than their earliest. Karmy has not knocked over much in her later years so far; as a youngster of 2 months or years, she was gleefully the opposite. No vase, or blanket fort, was ever safe. Being able to hold this senile demon who screams and purrs simultaneously when you hold her (after a lifetime of refusing laps), is also a delightfully unexpected twist.
Pets, just like us of course, don't become less exciting with age. Like all good things in life, they just get better — more unapologetically themselves, with no hesitance to tell you what they want, how they want it, and, when necessary, why you've got it all wrong.
This month is dedicated to adopting senior pets. And while it's easy to say as someone who has truly known her cat since about day six of her life, I can only beg you to see the joy in older animals. It isn't all about kittens, puppies, and all the other tiny squeakers. The energy "decrease" in older animals is just (blessedly) transferred to their vocal chords, so there's nothing to be sad about.
The spirit doesn't diminish; it gets a heck of a lot stronger. Sweet momma types will stay loving and snuggly. If they're wont to stamp their little feet, howl and get their way, that will not change.
And who would ever want it to?
Give senior pets a chance, too. They're the real heart-stealers. And there's a 20% reduction in probability your stuff will get ruined.
Kootenai Humane Society is in Hayden. Info: 208-772-4019
