I thought I'd write about how he came to live with us today, in honor of his birthday (in accordance with his new contract). It all started when I decided that I wanted a dog. However, living in a tiny "no pets allowed" apartment put a damper on that idea. I figured a cat would do until I could find a better place. I talked to Itchy. He seemed hesitant, but excited. He had never had pets before.
On December 19th 2003, Itchy and I headed off to the local humane society. We got lost on the way there. We thought that it might be a sign that maybe we shouldn't get a cat. We almost turned around to go home. At that point, with an empty kitty kennel in the backseat (we were prepared), we saw the street leading to the shelter.
It was about an hour or so before closing. We went straight to the cat room. A very nice volunteer (Nancy-I got to know her well a few months later when I started working at the shelter) asked what we were looking for. We didn't want a kitten but we wanted a younger cat that was still playful. Nancy said that there were lots of those and to take some time and look around. If we had any questions she would help us. We started with the wall of cages. We saw a beautiful young gray tabby. We looked at each other and *thought* we had found our cat.
The instant we opened that cage we knew we were wrong. That beautiful little bastard scratched at both of us and bit Itchy's finger. Nancy saw us and warned that that cat is a little aggressive. Ok, next. We didn't want a cat that was going to be mean or destroy our stuff. We split up and continued our search. Most of the cats were sleeping and not interested. Itchy and I took another cat into the visitation room. This cat wanted nothing to do with us. She walked around and tried to get out of the room. Perhaps she would have warmed up but she didn't seem to like us at all. We put her back in her cage and accidentally broke her toy. We both felt really bad but it's not like she was playing with it anyway (don't feel too bad, the cats get a different toy everyday when their cages are cleaned).
Then Itchy saw him. He was curled up, asleep in his litter box. Itchy took him out and brought him into the visitation room. Itchy came and got me. We spent about 10 minutes hanging out with him. He was rubbing up against our legs, smelling us, and letting us pet him. The only information that they had for him was that he was a neutered (very recently) male, about 9 months old. He had been given up by his previous owners because "he was too much work". He had lived with children and other pets. We were pretty sure that he was the one. We just wanted one more look around to make sure. We went to put him back in his cage and he starting meowing. He had been very quiet up until then. But he was yelling now and standing on his back legs, sticking his arm out between the bars. After that, there was no questioning that he was the one. We didn't need to go look around. He had picked us. He wanted to go home with us.
I opened the cage and picked him up. We walked out to the adoption desk. I held him while Itchy filled out the paperwork (we had to use his address since my apartment was no pets- yeah I broke the lease, big deal). Cuddles fell asleep in my arms.
He's been with us ever since. We had a bit of a rough start with him. The transition into our lives was never a problem for him, but he had caught a kitty cold before he left the shelter. He was so congested that he wouldn't eat (some cats won't eat if they can't smell their food), he had an eye infection, and the incision from his neuter ended up becoming infected.
After a brief return visit to the shelter, a stay at Itchy's house (where we learned that he can open doors!), and 3 trips to 2 different vets we nursed him back to health.
Now, 4 years later, he is with us here on this crazy island. Sleeping on his cat tree.
Picture of the birthday boy:
1 comment:
Aww, he's cute!
Post a Comment