OXFORD – An Oxford youth may have single-handily restored some faith in humanity last week after an automobile accident took the life of his beloved feline.
While Devin Meek and his family rushed their Siamese to the vet in every effort to save the family pet, the four-legged family member would succumb to injuries sustained from the accident.
Soon thereafter, the Meek family visited the CSPCA in Norwich to search for a new addition to fill the void, and Devin would set his sights on an orange and white cat known as “Pretty Boy,” who had been at the shelter for quite some time.
But sheltering an animal is expensive. Pretty Boy had been neutered, had received veterinarian care and all of his shots during his stay at the CSPCA, and that cost has to be absorbed into an adoption fee of $100 – no spare change.
“I could tell that Devin had really connected with this cat,” said Devin’s mother, Rebecca Meek. “But still, $100 is $100.”
A day later, young Meek approached his mother and asked if she would list his prized Xbox 360 gaming console in an online yard sale posting on Facebook, the asking price: $100.
“I told him that Xbox was well worth more than just $100, be he insisted that it was all that he wanted; just enough to bring Pretty Boy home,” said Meek.
Not long after the posting went live on Facebook, people began with the usual yard sale dickering, one person asking if the seller would be interested in a trade.
“That's when I had to explain the situation; that my son was his game in order to adopt a cat from CSPCA in an effort replace his lost friend,” said Meek.
The post gathered the attention of many, and Devin was being lauded by several community members for his responsibility and sacrifice. Other members on the yard sale site kindly offered their own kittens to Devin; “But he wanted to do the right thing, he wanted to adopt a cat that had been neutered and had received all the proper veterinarian care,” said Meek. “More importantly he wanted to save another cats life.”
Once the online community caught wind, some approached administrators at the CSPCA to see what could be done about getting the cat young Meek had connected with earlier in the week at a reduced rate, and donations started being pledged unite Devin and Pretty Boy.
“After hearing the whole story and reading the details, we were more than happy to gift Pretty Boy to Devin for being such an upstanding individual,” said Annette Clarke, Executive Director of the Chenango SPCA. “He is an example of who we want adopting our pets,” she added.
The family was invited to the CSPCA to sign paperwork and receive Pretty Boy into their family.
“I never expected the community to reach out to make this happen, we're just so thankful” said Rebecca Meek.
“It's really quite remarkable that someone his age would be willing to sacrifice something so important to try and make things right,” said Clarke.
In the end, a valuable lesson was taken from a humbling and tragic experience, and Devin can now enjoy the two things that make 13-year-old boys happy; his Xbox and his new pet.
Clarke remarked that as repayment, young Meek could come visit and socialize with some of the other cats in the shelter through the Book Buddies Program, a very important component to animals of the shelter.
The Book Buddies program brings children into the facility for 30 minute intervals to read to their choice of an animal either one-on-one or individually. Book Buddies is a part of the partnering animals with students (PAWS) program.
To stay up to date on events and new animals, “like” Chenango SPCA on Facebook, and for more information contact the CSPCA at 334-9724 or visit chenangospca.org.