adopt a cat

till I get settled in England, but not taking it off the list! A has a neighborhood kitty who lets herself in and hangs out in his flat.

It was a little rough, at first. I’d been planning to get a cat for a while, and had prepared myself for just that: a grown cat, with a fully-formed personality. I hadn’t prepared myself for a kitten. There were a couple of times when I truly wondered if I’d made a mistake. (Usually, I wondered that at about two-thirty in the morning, after three straight hours of being pounced upon, and no sign that she was tiring of the ‘game.’)

But the last few weeks, things have been better. She’s still feisty, to say the least – it’s exhausting to watch her – but she’s happy to spend hours curled up on my lap. She still wakes me up at night, but now she demands a few minutes of cuddles, then lets me go back to sleep. She’s still a kitten, but… she’s going to be a great cat, I can tell.

Sebastian
Roosevelt

It’s a long list.

When I’ve got my own appartment or studio, I want a cat!

She was a calico stray and is now my meowing dinner reminder, I love her.

So, the plan was to go to some of the local shelters and take a look at the adult cats. There was never really any question – there are too many cats that need homes, and kittens… well, they’re pretty easy to find homes for.

That was the plan.

That wasn’t what actually happened. What happened was: I was offered a chance to take a look at a litter that was ready to go. And… well, the temptation proved a little too great. There is now a tiny little ball of black fluff trying to murder the curtains. She doesn’t have a name yet; I’m still getting to know her. (I’m leaning toward either Lucy or Olive, but given her ability to find all the impossible-to-clean nooks and crannies in my apartment, she seems to be campaigning for ‘Dusty.’)

It’s strange. I said I was ready for a new cat, but… I wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly. A few days ago, this was all theoretical – I was making plans, but I didn’t have any sort of timeline in mind. All of a sudden, I’ve got a new kitten. And exciting as it is, as much fun as it is, I’m feeling kind of melancholy, too. I miss Tasha. There’s still a part of me that can’t imagine having a cat that isn’t her.

But it’s good. I feel a little better about it every day. It won’t be long before I can’t imagine not having this little one around, either.

I miss having a cat around. It’s been a little more than a year since Tasha died; she was one of those amazing, once-in-a-lifetime pets, and I still miss her terribly. But… I’m past the worst of it. I’m at the point now where I can think about getting another cat without feeling sad, or worrying that I’ll just compare the new cat to Tash.

I’m ready.

I got an adorable white and gray stray from my boyfriend’s mom, and named her Athena after the goddess of wisdom and war (but mostly war, because this cat is a straight up tyrant!) I love her to death. She’s very playful and, when not gnawing on my ankles, very sweet.

I would really like to adopt a cat from the humane society as a way of giving back to the community, once I have my own place. I want a cat anyway since I’ve never had a pet before, but I like the idea that I can achieve this goal and do something good for the world at the same time, even if it’s only miniscule.

An all-black stray cat made her nest in the floor of our house here in Germany. After the kittens got too big, she basically stopped coming to feed them. They started mewing loudly after they were abandoned. Suddenly we noticed that we had furry houseguests. I caught a glimpse of two of them, black and white cow-colored kittens before they scurried out of sight. I began feeding them tuna and milk. After a few days, one of the kittens disappeared and only one was coming out for food. She adopted us.

Maybe she was weaned too early, or maybe she was the runt—she’s a very small little cat. And a little flighty. But she’s been settling in and she has big dreams of being a champion mouser someday.