Deborah Wolfe chats with Deborah Cribbs from www.givethemten.org about the cat situation in different places including Turkey, Tunisia, Europe and America, and how the general attitude toward stray or street cats differs. Do you let your cats have an indoor life only, or an outdoor life only or maybe they get to come and go when they want. Different cultures are at play here and in Tunisia Deborah Cribbs described how kittens were often dropped off at the local fish store to fend for themselves. Wolfe adds cat facts including a description of why people are allergic to cats and describes dog allergy trials for perspective owners of doodles or poodles (the hypoallergenic breeds) and that’s when Deborah Cribb made a fantastic suggestion; if you think you have a family member with a pet allergy but it seems to be with only some cats or some pets and you aren’t sure….you can foster a pet! Right, your family, and the kids especially, know the pet is there temporarily, but you get a chance to test that pet fully and if no allergies manifest you can adopt.
Deb Wolfe suggests for families who want to give a cat or kitten as a Christmas gift wrap a stuffed animal or figurine like the pet your kids are begging for and then add a homemade gift card for one to be selected from a shelter. Go to the shelter after the bustle and unpredictability of the holidays is done and the house is calm and decorations are put away. Once spring hits in North America, Cribbs says its kitten season so if that’s what you are looking for that’s when you’ll have many cutie kittens to pick from.
EPISODE NOTES: From Fish Shops to Foster Homes: A Global Look at Cat Culture