Belladonna is a feral cat; I'm sorry, I did not know this

[magical thyme]

I am very disappointed in my shelter for what I feel was disregard for adopter's expectations and feelings. They normally have 2 basic types of adoption cats: tame cats and feral cats too "wild" to tame. The tame cats are $50 or so to adopt. The feral cats that are really unhappy at the shelter are ultimately re-released into a colony that lives behind the shelter with a feeding station. "Barn buddies" are semi-tame feral cats that would like to just have a shelter, food and freedom and are adopted out for free.

The program "The Twelve Strays of Christmas" was a mix of dogs and cats that had been at the shelter a long time and were being adopted out at a special, reduced price.

I wanted to make posters of Bella, and also to give her pic to local vets and animal control in case anybody found her and turned her in or even thought she was homeless and kept her. But I didn't have any pix of her. It dawned on me that they had pix, so I googled her name and the shelter name to see if her pix were archived there so I could download them without wasting their time.

I found her pics, but I also found a list of archived ads. It turns out Bella was listed and advertised as a free "Barn Buddy" just a short time before she was offered at the reduced adoption price.

I don't begrudge them the adoption price. But had I known she was a feral cat, I wouldn't have been so upset for the last 4 days by her disappearance. The feral barn buddies often take off because they just prefer being wild cats. I also wouldn't have taken a barn buddie at this time because I was adopting a cat mainly as a companion for Dahli. She had already suffered the loss of Algiers and Polly. She did not need a 3rd lost companion in a row.

I do want to thank you all for the light and wishes sent our way. Bella may at some point decide to come back to her barn, maybe next winter when the hunting gets lean. There will be a meal there for her, but I won't be searching for her any more.