On Thursday afternoon I decided it was time to welcome another cat into our house. It has been about a month since we lost Olive and I was finally feeling ready. To be honest I was a tad nervous going through this whole process again thinking about all the what ifs...what if he/she doesn't use the litterbox? What if he/she doesn't like us after all? What if he/she attacks us randomly? That would be my nightmare. But I couldn't let those silly fears stop me. So I headed to the humane society and hoped I would find my match. Once in the building I immediately was overwhelmed with a smell. I guess that's how all shelters smell? Kind of like a mixture of animal and barnyard. I filled out the paperwork and had a small interview with one of the girls and was told I can look around. She said as much as I would like to choose the cat, they mostly choose you and you'll know when you have found your cat. So I headed to the "rooms" where they were housed. Each room was about the size of a small walk in closet that had about 6 cats so it was pretty crowded. I went in the first room with no luck. Second and third room, the same. The fifth room housed all the special needs kitties...special dietary restrictions, kitty aids, etc.. As much as I would love to take home one of those kitties I knew I couldn't because of financial reasons. So I was feeling discouraged but saw I had one last room to look into. There was a volunteer in there and I was just watching from outside at what he was doing. I see him pull out this huge, mangy looking cat from the enclosed litterbox. He was obviously frightened and did not want to be pried out of his safe space. Not to mention I saw he had some poop stuck to his butt. Immediately I was a little turned off just by the looks and energy of him. The volunteer, Justin I think his name was, stuck the cat on the couch next to him and tried to get him to eat something. He then said that this cat was his favorite, all he wanted to do was be loved on and how well tempered he is. I was a little taken aback, like, really?? This cat?? So he said to come in and sit on the couch next to him and see if I like him. Immediately when I sat down he came up to me and rubbed and forced me to pet him. I fell in love. Once again I was forced out of my comfort zone because I went in with the intentions of returning with another small female cat similar to Olive and this cat was completely the opposite! Huge and male. So I asked the volunteer if he has been seen recently by the vet and is he all up to date health wise. The vet came in, mentioned that he hasn't been eating anything since his arrival and that the best thing would be to take him home and get some food in him. The environment was obviously too stressful for him, he is not eating and also being bullied by one of the other cats. So I said, "I'll take him!" Immediately I was thinking, oh crikey, did I make the right decision? Well, I'll just have to find out. It's been two days and he is slowly but surely warming up to us and feeling more comfortable in our house. He has done quite a bit of sleeping and hiding but I can imagine that he's making up for lost time. When he feels comfortable to hang with us all he wants to do is love. I know once he is fully adjusted he will be such a happy kitty and I will have a companion again. On a side note, he originally came with the name Bailey but I felt Louie was more fitting.
Louie Lafferty
17 lbs
7 1/2 years old
All Boy
No comments:
Post a Comment