I want to paint a quick picture for you.
Imagine yourself in a room or a space. You can see out of this space, but you can’t get out. You’ve got food and water and a bathroom, as well as some bedding, but that’s it. You may have a friend in there with you, too.
Now imagine that from time to time something with arms and legs and eyes and a nose and a mouth that is about 10 to 20 times bigger than you picks you up, talks nicely to you, gives you some affection, maybe gives you medication.
I tried to come up with what animal would be 10 to 20 times our size, but I think it’s tough to comprehend the sheer magnitude of it. For instance, great white sharks can be 16 to 18 feet long and 2,000 to 4,500 pounds. That’s pretty close. So think of a great white shark doing all that, to give you perspective.
I would be pretty darn freaked out.
Or for fans of Watchmen it would be like Dr. Manhattan taking care of you after he grew huge during Vietnam.
Now, add into this equation that you have relatively sharp teeth and claws. In other words, if you wanted to, you could inflict at least some damage on your caregiver. You would be like Wolverine, only without the healing factor and adamantium skeleton.
I’m a nerd and these are the parallels I draw. I can’t help it.
Oh and also, the aforementioned great white shark taking care of you doesn’t really have the teeth they’re known for. Just the size.
I don’t know about you all, but I would be seriously hard pressed not to completely lose it.
It dawned on me recently that’s what it’s like for the kittens in our shelter. They’re living in a cage, they get food, water, a bathroom a bed and something 10 to 20 times their size takes care of them.
Sometimes this giant thing will give them medication, which clearly doesn’t taste good and sometimes is in pill form (really not fun). Other times, they get shots for vaccinations or blood drawn to test for certain illnesses.
And yet, through all of this, the kittens we have up for adoption don’t really fight us that much. I mean, can you imagine a great white or Dr. Manhattan giving you a shot or a pill?
I’d freak out, that’s for sure.
Animals have an unbelievably remarkable amount of trust, when many times if people were presented with the same situation, they wouldn’t be able to do the same.
Okay, I’m not trying to say that giving shots and drawing blood is a walk in the park and that every kitten in here takes it with aplomb, but they move toward us when we open the cages. They let us pick them up and cuddle them. They let us kiss their tiny little heads without a fuss.
I’m not sure I’d be able to do that if I were in their paws because fear and mistrust would more than likely get the best of me. Animals, on the other hand, don’t always have that problem.
Animals truly are a remarkable gift with so many lessons to teach us if we just take the time to listen and learn.
Take a moment and consider: what have your pets taught you?
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Jennifer Vanderau is the public relations coordinator for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and can be reached at cvascomm@cvas-pets.org. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, people may call the shelter at 263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org. CVAS also operates a thrift store in Chambersburg. CVAS invites readers to help support the animals at the shelter by donating to or shopping at the store..
