SPCA & Attachment Issues
The most common question I get asked as a shelter worker is…”how can you come here every day! Don’t you get too attached to all of them?”….well, yes, we fall in love with all of them, fast and hard, how could we not?…I can speak for every volunteer we have when I say, we love these animals the same as our own. When we take these animals in, they become our pets that live in a different house. We celebrate their successes like they are our own, we cry and worry ourselves into knots when they have troubles or are sick. We laugh till our stomachs ache watching them get up to foolishness and be happy critters. We swell with pride when someone compliments them. We would fight an army barehanded to protect them. In all honesty, we are soooo attached that some of these animals think they are on an all-inclusive vacation. They don’t care much either way if they find a forever home, they’ve got it pretty good where they are…but of course all of our babies need forever homes.
This is the obvious next question I get asked….”if you get so attached to them, how can you adopt them out and maybe never see them again?”…..that one is easy. I think of them as children. When a person has a child, they love that child with all their heart and soul, they would swim a lake of fire to protect them from heart ache,they sacrifice many things to raise them healthy and happy. And what does every parent want for their grown children? for them to be happy and live a good life…..in a home of their own.
Can we give them up to a better life than what we can make for them, even with our attachment issues? You bet! We have kittens who’ve gone west to make their fortune, we’ve had puppies head to Ontario for prosperity, and some set up shop locally, but many are still waiting for their chance to cut the apron strings. Stop in and see who needs you to have attachment issues too 🙂
Angie Hovey.
Victoria County SPCA
506-356-1117
