Bringing my adopted cat, Jameson, home with me in 2014 was
one of the happiest days of my life.
Having to go back to work two days later was one of the
worst.
While the rest of the country is hung up on the necessity
of maternity leave — or even the newly coined “meternity” — one group continues
to be overlooked when it comes to paid time off from work: new pet owners.
“Paw-ternity” leave is already a reality in the UK — the US
pet-insurance provider Petplan found that nearly 5 percent of new pet owners in
the UK were offered time off to care for their four-legged kids. (Not
surprisingly, the UK is also light-years ahead of the US when it comes to
maternity leave, offering up to 39 weeks of paid leave for new mothers.)
It’s time for the US to hop aboard the “paw-ternity” train.
It’s not just because I want to stay home and cuddle on the couch with my new
feline (which I do). When I adopted Jameson, he was 6 years old and had spent
the previous year of his life in an animal shelter. He was suffering from
several health problems after being neglected by his previous owner — and was
skittish, nervous and uncertain about why he was suddenly being transported to
a strange new home.
To read more on this story, click here: Pet Owners Deserve Family Leave, Too
