奇速英语

双赢：孤独的老人和无家可归的猫

Since 2020, an organization called Feline Urban Rehab and Rescue (FURR) has been pairing up senior cats with senior humans. They call it their Seniors 4 Seniors program, and it’s one way that the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania rescue is helping to reduce the homeless cat population in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

FURR is a volunteer-based organization that focuses its efforts on finding stray(走失的) cats suitable homes. They find homes for around 700 cats each year. Sadly, many senior cats who come into their care aren’t good candidates for a standard adoption. Many of these animals require costly medical care.

That’s why FURR started Seniors 4 Seniors, a program that provides lonely people, who are at least 62 years old, with an older cat, free of charge. Seniors must provide food and love for their animals, but medical costs are covered by FURR!

“The biggest problem in the way of old people adopting animals is typically the medical bills, so by us covering those bills, we allow old people to get the love and benefits of having a pet without having to worry about costs,” said Seniors program chair, Heather Sweigert.

Ken Johnson was one of the first seniors to benefit from this program. He says it was “love at first sight” when he first met Tully, a 13-year-old cat with health problems. Ken lives on his Social Security benefits, so normally having an animal wouldn’t be in his budget. “It’s nice to have another living creature that wants to be with me and relies on me,” Ken said. “We have the same type of life, so that’s why we bonded. We have a great friendship.”

FURR takes a lot of care to match up a cat’s personality with their foster human’s. What a beautiful way to help both humans and animals. We hope more shelters start similar programs because this is such a clever, life-changing system!