When my daughter was 8 years old she had a 3rd grade teacher that was an animal lover. Her teacher kept 2 cats in the classroom along with some pocket pets, occasionally she would bring her dog to class too. All this really surprised me seeing how some children are alergic to animals. Being an animal lover myself I had no problem with it and my child was not alergic.
This teacher encouraged the children to look for strays and try to find them homes. I find it a good concept to teach children compassion at a young age. The compassion though, can be taken a little to far by such young children.
My daughter walked the 4 blocks to school everyday with 3 neighbor girls. One particular day my daughter happened upon a cat sitting on the sidewalk. Being 8 years old and having so much experience my daughter could tell instantly this was a stray and here was her chance to rescue it. Well she scooped up the cat and proceeded on to school with her 3 friends in tow.
Around 1:00 pm I recieved a phone call from my daughter, she was calling from the school office where her teacher had taken her to make the call. She told me she had found a stray that morning and had brought it to school and her teacher wanted to know if we would want to adopt it. I gave a flat out no. My fiancee was alergic to cats and no way could we have one come live with us. The teacher then prompted my daughter to ask if we could at least take it in for the night. The teacher would try to find it a home the next day. I agreed to the night.
After hanging up I called my fiancee and told him we were going to have a guest for the night, it did not go over well.
When my daughter came home form school with the cat a litterbox and some food and her 3 girlfriends in tow, I was expecting to see some scraggly, thin, ear bitten cat. Instead my daughter brings in the very healthy, plump, clean cat. Within minutes my fiancee walks in and he takes one look at the cat and knows imediately what had already crossed my mind. This is no stray cat.
My fiancee tells my daughter to bring the cat they are going for a drive. He loaded the two in the car and asked my daughter to show him exactly where she found the cat. He drove 2 blocks over from our home and my daughter pointed to the place where she found the cat. My fiancee opened the car door and the cat shot out of the car like a rocket. The cat ran straight up to the front door of the house and began to claw at the door.
My fiancee, now my husband by the way, said before he pulled off he saw the door open and the cat go inside.
This poor cat was on the biggest adventure and had no way to tell it's owners how it had spent the whole day in a 3rd grade classroom with 2 other cats and about 25 3rd graders.
This all happened over 15 years ago and my husband and I still talk about it every now and then when we let our cat in from outside we wonder where he's been. Yes we now have two cats, my husband still has his alergies but there is medicine for that. We live in the country so I doubt if our cats will ever go on a big adventure like the one my daughter found. But we think it would be really cool to put a cat-cam on one of our cats just to see where they go. Mount a mini carmera on a harness and put it on the cats back. Get a cats perspective of the world. Just keep in mind if you live in the city and your cat goes outside, you never know what kind of day he's had.
This teacher encouraged the children to look for strays and try to find them homes. I find it a good concept to teach children compassion at a young age. The compassion though, can be taken a little to far by such young children.
My daughter walked the 4 blocks to school everyday with 3 neighbor girls. One particular day my daughter happened upon a cat sitting on the sidewalk. Being 8 years old and having so much experience my daughter could tell instantly this was a stray and here was her chance to rescue it. Well she scooped up the cat and proceeded on to school with her 3 friends in tow.
Around 1:00 pm I recieved a phone call from my daughter, she was calling from the school office where her teacher had taken her to make the call. She told me she had found a stray that morning and had brought it to school and her teacher wanted to know if we would want to adopt it. I gave a flat out no. My fiancee was alergic to cats and no way could we have one come live with us. The teacher then prompted my daughter to ask if we could at least take it in for the night. The teacher would try to find it a home the next day. I agreed to the night.
After hanging up I called my fiancee and told him we were going to have a guest for the night, it did not go over well.
When my daughter came home form school with the cat a litterbox and some food and her 3 girlfriends in tow, I was expecting to see some scraggly, thin, ear bitten cat. Instead my daughter brings in the very healthy, plump, clean cat. Within minutes my fiancee walks in and he takes one look at the cat and knows imediately what had already crossed my mind. This is no stray cat.
My fiancee tells my daughter to bring the cat they are going for a drive. He loaded the two in the car and asked my daughter to show him exactly where she found the cat. He drove 2 blocks over from our home and my daughter pointed to the place where she found the cat. My fiancee opened the car door and the cat shot out of the car like a rocket. The cat ran straight up to the front door of the house and began to claw at the door.
My fiancee, now my husband by the way, said before he pulled off he saw the door open and the cat go inside.
This poor cat was on the biggest adventure and had no way to tell it's owners how it had spent the whole day in a 3rd grade classroom with 2 other cats and about 25 3rd graders.
This all happened over 15 years ago and my husband and I still talk about it every now and then when we let our cat in from outside we wonder where he's been. Yes we now have two cats, my husband still has his alergies but there is medicine for that. We live in the country so I doubt if our cats will ever go on a big adventure like the one my daughter found. But we think it would be really cool to put a cat-cam on one of our cats just to see where they go. Mount a mini carmera on a harness and put it on the cats back. Get a cats perspective of the world. Just keep in mind if you live in the city and your cat goes outside, you never know what kind of day he's had.
