The call came over the intercom – “Cookie is going home, if you want to say goodbye before she leaves.” We all went running to give her one last pat. You see, the troubled economy had brought Cookie and her buddy Pumpkin to us, and we had grown very fond of them.
Staff at the Concord-Merrimack County SPCA see the effects of the troubled economy on a daily basis. We've taken in a lot of pets that loving owners have had to surrender because they were forced to move in with relatives or to a cheaper apartment, and were not allowed to bring their pets with them.
This was the case with Cookie and Pumpkin, two cats whose family was forced to leave their home and was unsure of where they would be living. They came to us early in October after the family made the heartbreaking decision to surrender them in hopes that the shelter could find them loving new homes. By the end of the month, Pumpkin, the older short-haired male, was adopted to a wonderful family. Cookie, who lived with the office staff in the administration building, stayed on.
We all fell in love with this sweet, beautiful buff-colored 6-year-old, who just happened to be deaf. In mid-November, her family called to say that they had found a place to live where they could have cats, but they couldn't move in until December. We told them that Pumpkin had been adopted, but Cookie was still here getting lots of love from the staff. The family was told to call when they moved into their new home. They called, and Cookie was here waiting for them.
You can see that when that call came over the intercom, and we heard that Cookie was going home – not to a new home, but back to the family who had to give her up – it was a bittersweet moment for us all. We would miss this affectionate lady, but couldn't have been happier for her and her family. In a small way, it made us feel like we had done something to fight back against the economic crisis that is causing so many good people, and their pets, to suffer through no fault of their own.
Good luck, Cookie!
For more information on the shelter, please visit concordspca.org
