Can't think of a fitting title...
The last two days have been tough. We had some additions to our household and some departures. On March 1st my girlfriend and I had to make the horrible decision to euthanize our 15yo cat Lady. I had spent the last 10 years in her life and she was one of the most wonderful cats I have ever met. She gave back ten times the love you a gave her. She will never, ever be forgotten.
During the last month our other cat, Nothing, was becoming very lonely. We decided we needed to bring in another cat for him to keep him company. We both felt it was a little too soon after Lady's passing, but our cats are our world. They are our children and we try to do everything we can for them.
We went to the Teterboro shelter earlier in the week and were horrified at the conditions there. They had very few cats, but all of them were miserable looking. The help there was also deplorable, we stood at the counter for 10-15 mins before one of the two idiots behind the counter decided to even give us the time of the day. We saw only one cat that seemed to have any energy left in her, but we couldn't spend any time with her since they were closing shortly. She reminded us of an outside cat we had taken care of a couple of years ago they had gotten sick and died before we could take her in (one of our biggest regrets).
I researched a few shelters online and found one in Clifton, NJ that looked promising. So we stopped there on Tuesday night. What a change this shelter was. I was amazed at how helpful everyone was and how energetic and responsive the cats were. They had a great selection of ages to choose from as well. Immediately, I fell for a little 4 month old named Carrie. She came running to me from the back of her cage and was reaching her paws out at me. They must have trained her well in what to do lol. I took her out and held her for a while and she was purring instantly. I wanted her then and there, but I had to give all the other kitties a chance too, plus she was a little young for our 10 yo. Directly across from her was a beautiful cat, Putty. We took him out and he was nice and calm and seemed to like us fine. We put him back and went into the other cat room to see who else they had. I found another cat I liked named Lucky. She was also 4 months old and absolutely adorable. She took an instant liking to me as well. Above her was a gorgeous cat named Maxwell who is completely deaf. We really liked him, but he looked exactly like our current cat and we just couldn't get him.
We eventually decided that instead of getting one cat we could get two: Carrie and Putty. We figured Putty would be great since he was so calm and he was 2 years old so we are giving an older cat a chance since most people don't want anything other than a kitten. And Carrie would bring some well needed life and happiness into the apartment. We filled out the necessary forms and left waiting for them to do their background check and we would find out the next day if and when we could take our new pets home.
By 5 o'clock Wednesday evening we got the word that we could come and pick them up, yay! We got everything together and went to the shelter. After a short time there we had them in their carriers and were on our way home. When we got home we introdoced them to Nothing while they were still in their carriers. He quickly ran away and hid, which we expected since he is a very timid cat. We let them out of their prisons in the bathroom and left them in their for awhile while we calmed Nothing down... to no avail.
Eventually we let them roam around a bit since Nothing was hiding and wouldn't be coming out anytime soon. Since it has finally been getting warm again we opened the window and Putty... now named Hunter (after Hunter S. Thompson RIP)... quickly jumped into the window and watched the outside. Carrie, now known as Chiyo (after Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh) quickly adapted to the house and was laying around the kitchen and the livingroom. We noticed prior to this that Hunter went from being the calm, placid cat to a much more aggressive cat, but that was somewhat expected because of the change in surroundings for him.
When it came time to take Hunter out of the window he was becoming increasingly violent acting. He was hissing and growling at us. When I went to pick him up he attacked me and got two really good hits with his claws. On my forearm and on my index finger. I wasn't bleeding too bad from my forearm, but the index finger bled pretty bad. For a few mins I thought I might need stitches, but I got the bleeding to stop for the most part. When he swiped at me he luckily lost his balance and had to jump down from the window. We closed the window and left him alone to calm down. He eventually started coming up to us and we would pet him, somewhat cautiously, but every now and then he would hiss at us and look like he was about to strike again. He also eventually started to grow tired of Chiyo's 4 month old antics and was hissing and swatting at her.
After a long night and a tiring morning we decided that we had to bring him back. We didn't want to, but Nothing is our first priority and he was not happy with this other domineering male in the house. I called up the contact at the shelter and she agreed.
All day at work I was emotionally up and down and always questioning if I was doing the right thing. We felt horrible to have to return him to the shelter, but we really didn't know what else to do. When I saw on their webpage that they posted that Carrie and Putty were adopted together and how lucky they were I nearly lost it. When I came home this evening I talked to my girlfriend about maybe giving him some more time, but he was still acting very violent and unhappy so we decided to go through with it. It was a tough drive there and surprisingly neither one of us got too upset. We spent a long time at the shelter talking with the volunteers on duty tonight, one of which was the one that initially helped us pick out these two cats. They told us that we did the right thing, but they also told us they now wonder if they will be able to get Putty/Hunter to the point where he will be able to be a housecat. They thought he was there already, but obviously wasn't yet. I personally think that he just needs a home where there are no other cats. I think that was a major factor in his behaviour.
Nothing has since come out of hiding. He is still unsure of Chiyo, but we aren't in fact while I wrote this she has been sleeping at my feet on the rug. Hopefully she will have long, fun life. I know I can't wait to be a major part of it.
During the last month our other cat, Nothing, was becoming very lonely. We decided we needed to bring in another cat for him to keep him company. We both felt it was a little too soon after Lady's passing, but our cats are our world. They are our children and we try to do everything we can for them.
We went to the Teterboro shelter earlier in the week and were horrified at the conditions there. They had very few cats, but all of them were miserable looking. The help there was also deplorable, we stood at the counter for 10-15 mins before one of the two idiots behind the counter decided to even give us the time of the day. We saw only one cat that seemed to have any energy left in her, but we couldn't spend any time with her since they were closing shortly. She reminded us of an outside cat we had taken care of a couple of years ago they had gotten sick and died before we could take her in (one of our biggest regrets).
I researched a few shelters online and found one in Clifton, NJ that looked promising. So we stopped there on Tuesday night. What a change this shelter was. I was amazed at how helpful everyone was and how energetic and responsive the cats were. They had a great selection of ages to choose from as well. Immediately, I fell for a little 4 month old named Carrie. She came running to me from the back of her cage and was reaching her paws out at me. They must have trained her well in what to do lol. I took her out and held her for a while and she was purring instantly. I wanted her then and there, but I had to give all the other kitties a chance too, plus she was a little young for our 10 yo. Directly across from her was a beautiful cat, Putty. We took him out and he was nice and calm and seemed to like us fine. We put him back and went into the other cat room to see who else they had. I found another cat I liked named Lucky. She was also 4 months old and absolutely adorable. She took an instant liking to me as well. Above her was a gorgeous cat named Maxwell who is completely deaf. We really liked him, but he looked exactly like our current cat and we just couldn't get him.
We eventually decided that instead of getting one cat we could get two: Carrie and Putty. We figured Putty would be great since he was so calm and he was 2 years old so we are giving an older cat a chance since most people don't want anything other than a kitten. And Carrie would bring some well needed life and happiness into the apartment. We filled out the necessary forms and left waiting for them to do their background check and we would find out the next day if and when we could take our new pets home.
By 5 o'clock Wednesday evening we got the word that we could come and pick them up, yay! We got everything together and went to the shelter. After a short time there we had them in their carriers and were on our way home. When we got home we introdoced them to Nothing while they were still in their carriers. He quickly ran away and hid, which we expected since he is a very timid cat. We let them out of their prisons in the bathroom and left them in their for awhile while we calmed Nothing down... to no avail.
Eventually we let them roam around a bit since Nothing was hiding and wouldn't be coming out anytime soon. Since it has finally been getting warm again we opened the window and Putty... now named Hunter (after Hunter S. Thompson RIP)... quickly jumped into the window and watched the outside. Carrie, now known as Chiyo (after Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh) quickly adapted to the house and was laying around the kitchen and the livingroom. We noticed prior to this that Hunter went from being the calm, placid cat to a much more aggressive cat, but that was somewhat expected because of the change in surroundings for him.
When it came time to take Hunter out of the window he was becoming increasingly violent acting. He was hissing and growling at us. When I went to pick him up he attacked me and got two really good hits with his claws. On my forearm and on my index finger. I wasn't bleeding too bad from my forearm, but the index finger bled pretty bad. For a few mins I thought I might need stitches, but I got the bleeding to stop for the most part. When he swiped at me he luckily lost his balance and had to jump down from the window. We closed the window and left him alone to calm down. He eventually started coming up to us and we would pet him, somewhat cautiously, but every now and then he would hiss at us and look like he was about to strike again. He also eventually started to grow tired of Chiyo's 4 month old antics and was hissing and swatting at her.
After a long night and a tiring morning we decided that we had to bring him back. We didn't want to, but Nothing is our first priority and he was not happy with this other domineering male in the house. I called up the contact at the shelter and she agreed.
All day at work I was emotionally up and down and always questioning if I was doing the right thing. We felt horrible to have to return him to the shelter, but we really didn't know what else to do. When I saw on their webpage that they posted that Carrie and Putty were adopted together and how lucky they were I nearly lost it. When I came home this evening I talked to my girlfriend about maybe giving him some more time, but he was still acting very violent and unhappy so we decided to go through with it. It was a tough drive there and surprisingly neither one of us got too upset. We spent a long time at the shelter talking with the volunteers on duty tonight, one of which was the one that initially helped us pick out these two cats. They told us that we did the right thing, but they also told us they now wonder if they will be able to get Putty/Hunter to the point where he will be able to be a housecat. They thought he was there already, but obviously wasn't yet. I personally think that he just needs a home where there are no other cats. I think that was a major factor in his behaviour.
Nothing has since come out of hiding. He is still unsure of Chiyo, but we aren't in fact while I wrote this she has been sleeping at my feet on the rug. Hopefully she will have long, fun life. I know I can't wait to be a major part of it.
In Memory of Lady (1990-2005)
posted by fnordboy at 10:36:00 PM
1 Comments:
I know what you mean. I go through hell with the three cats. Sebastian loves Mr. Jingles to death, but Calley can't stand him. And since Calley's a Drama Queen and Mr. Jingles is an Instigator Extroidinaire, I have to keep them apart.
I couldn't bear to be without any one of them.
Good luck with the new addition!
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