I knew it wouldn't last long...being a 7-member family, that is. Losing Nemo was hard, and the void he left behind was terrible. I had a very long time to come to terms with the fact that I was losing him; almost 3 years of vet visits, meds, fluid drips and just overall emotional turmoil. And love him as I did, I would be lying to say I didn't feel a little relieved when the time came to let him go, and he could be at peace. What a rollercoaster ride.
A week ago, I was at Petsmart, taking photos of the Ray of Hope cats to post on Petfinder and saw this guy.
Then I read this on the info sheet on his cage:
"I'm very friendly. I love to be held and sit in your lap. I will snuggle with you all day. Please adopt me!"In my life, I have had a total of 5 cats. None of them have been "lap cats". And at the risk of sounding like a potential crazy cat lady, I've always wanted to find one that fit that description. So...I knew I had some convincing to do. After pleading with my three-pets-is-enough-husband for a week, I finally got him to meet me at Petsmart last night and he caved. I knew once he saw how completely awesome this cat was, he'd give in. It was a reluctant ok, but what more could I ask for? I also have to thank the Petsmart employees who did their part to convince him. They'd seen me practically stalking the cat for a week straight and were probably happy to see both of us go!
Our new boy spent his first night in the bathroom with everything he needed. Not a peep all night! This morning has been interesting. I hadn't planned on him going face-to-face with our dogs so soon, but Lolly, our Shepherd mix, insisted. I was bracing myself for hissing, batting, etc but I was totally unprepared for what happened.
Lolly, living up to her name, licked him. And he liked it.
Even our crazy Chow girl settled down in his presence, and wagged her tail as he rubbed up against her face. I'm kind of in shock, as are the dogs. They've never known a cat that actually lets them come close without trying to scratch their eyes out. I have yet to introduce him to our grouchy 9 year old cat, but indications so far are that at least the newbie will handle it well.
My daughter has pretty much claimed him, and I think he's very OK with that. Those are two contented smiles.
9:00 update: I just finished putting Sophie to bed. We read our usual bedtime story, but this time we were joined by our new kitty. He tucked his head under my chin and put his arm across my chest while I was reading. What a love.