Cat!

We finally have a cat!

It took some time to gather the cash necessary for the pet security deposit, but as of Wednesday we were ready. We went to Petsmart and filled out an adoption form. There was actually a cat coalition volunteer there for once, so we were able to visit with our two candidates: Holly and Ringtail. Holly is a very small, 1.5 year old black and white cat. She was nice, but had absolutely no interest in being affectionate. She was only interested in playing (and scratching!). Ringtail was the exact opposite. He's a 2.5 year old, heavy (~10 lbs) tabby/calico mix. He had no interest in playing. He just wanted to lay on our laps and purr. It took no time at all to decide that Ringtail was the cat for us. The next day we talked to the foster parents, and by 5:00 on Thursday it was confirmed that Ringtail would be coming home with us.

We picked him up yesterday, along with a carrier and other necessities. He yelled all the way home, thanks to the sub-freezing temperature, snow, and horrible wind. He was much better once we got home. We restricted him to the bedroom and second bathroom, at first. He immediately checked out his food, water, and litter box, then hid under the bed. For the next hour or so he would come out for petting, check the room (to see if anything had changed?), then go back under the bed. When we opened the door to the rest of the apartment he checked it all out and then ran to the bed again, and stayed there for a long time. I don't think he was ready to deal with having so much territory after being locked up in an adoption cage.

When we went to bed the poor thing freaked out yet again. I think he thought we'd left when we turned the lights off, because he ran to the bathroom door and started yelling again. We had to turn off our loud fan and put him on the bed between us to calm him down. Luckily, the rest of the night passed without incident, and at some point during the night he ended up on the floor next to Andy's side of the bed.

Today was much better for him. He pooped in his litter box for the first time, became comfortable enough with the rest of the apartment that he stopped going under the bed, and finally got to eat some of his canned food. It was amazing! I've never seen a cat eat so fast. His foster father said that he likes to eat 1/4 - 1/3 of a can of wet food per day in addition to his dry, so I opened up a can of Friskies Special Diet (salmon flavor) for him, and he basically pounced on me. I could barely get it onto a plate, and when I did, he inhaled it within 30 seconds! We also learned that he doesn't like fish flavored treats, but he loves the chicken and cheese flavored treats.

We're in the process of changing his name to (John) Locke. His foster father said that he's only been called Ringtail for a few weeks, so it shouldn't be too hard. It's mainly hard to change our own behavior from calling him Kitty to Locke.

We're extremely happy with him. He seems to make an active effort to spend equal time with both of us, and he happily trots behind us when we walk around the apartment. He's just the sweetest cat I've ever met. I think Andy is especially impressed, because he thought that the cat would only pay attention to me.

Want to see pictures?