Remember Them Today, and Always #lightforpets

Today is a very important day — Remember Me Thursday is the annual day in which we all remember those pets who wound up in open admission (i.e., “kill”) shelters, and who did not make it out alive. Through no fault of their own, they were abandoned in these places and left this world homeless, alone and unloved.

Even though Sparkle was a breed cat, and I am too, she felt it was very important to promote open shelter adoptions. In fact, she often preferred promoting adoptions from these shelters over rescues. With rescues, she explained, the cats had already been saved from being euthanized. When you adopt from an open admission shelter, you are literally saving a life. Maybe even two actually, because it means some other kitty gets an extra day to find a home. And don’t think us fancy cats are immune to winding up at these places. It happens all the time.

Binga came from an L.A. animal control shelter as a kitten in 2000. Maybe that’s why she has a chip on her shoulder. She is okay, really. Even though she whaps me sometimes, it is never with her claws out and it’s more like a tap than a whap.

On Remember Me Thursday, you are invited to light a virtual candle to remember those pets who died in shelters. I did and I will show you how to do it.

First you go to the Remember Me Thursday website and click on the Light a Candle link in the menu bar. Choose a candle image and fill in some basic information.

Next you fill in who the candle is for (it doesn’t have to be a specific pet, although it can; I chose “Homeless kitties in kill shelters everywhere”). Then add some information about why you are lighting the candle. I kept it simple and just said a few words about how you are literally saving a life when you adopt from an open admission shelter. You can also add a photo of a pet if you like.

When you are done, your candle will show up on the Remember Me Thursday gallery.

It only takes a few minutes, so please do it! It will help you think about all the homeless pets who wind up in shelters, and maybe someday you will be able to help one of them.

If you would like to see Sparkle’s post about this day last year, click here.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!