New kitty!

My husband and I have not adopted cats since we've been married; they've adopted us.

Before we married, I adopted four cats, three of which remain at my parents' home in California. They lived with us at my husband's parents' home until we moved out and got an apartment much too small for so many outdoor cats, so back to my parents' home they went. We lived closer to them, so I got to visit them whenever I wanted until we moved to Alaska.

While living with hubby's parents' we met many strays, bums who came to eat and sleep for a while before moving on. One wild cat hung around so long, he got used to humans and discovered he loved being petted. He'd crash his head into your hand so hard, like he never knew how wonderful it was to be petted before. We called him Snaggletooth because of the one tooth sticking out his mouth.

The two who adopted us permanently are with us here in Alaska. Asuka, the little girl, just appeared on the back porch one day. When I opened the door, she didn't run or hiss or anything. She just mewed at me, so I brought her in.

Dusty was crapping on the deck where I'd feed the cats, and we had no idea who was doing it. Until one day, when he jumped onto the deck with a thump while I was feeding. It was like he said, "Here I am! Feed me, love me!"

These two get along all right, except Asuka is a bit temperamental. She doesn't really want to play with Dusty, or cuddle with him, though occasionally she'll tolerate is attentions. So we discussed getting a third cat for Dusty.

We never really had to go out and adopt a cat because they seemed to be finding us just fine.

But here in Alaska, things are different. We've only seen two cats since we moved to our house almost two years ago. Both were clearly owned by someone else in the neighborhood. If we were serious about adopting another cat, we would have to go out and find one.

This past Sunday we went to PetZoo to pick up some dog food. That's all we went in there for, really. But we discovered they were having a big sale (they even had someone walking around in a dog suit handing out sample bags of Yummie Chummies). In the back, there were cages where Clear Creek Cat Rescue (I think that's their name) had some of their adoptable cats. Hubby said I can't go over there, and I said, "Over where?" because I hadn't noticed yet. So of course he led me over there himself. (I turned my hubby into a bigger cat freak than I am!)

We talked to the nice lady of CCCR about our home situation, the other animals we have, and what we were looking for. She introduced us to Daisy, this pretty little tortishell, mostly brown with orange flecks, who snuggled in our arms without any problems. The lady told us about how she loved to play and had lots of energy. She was estimated to be 11 months old, not a kitten, but not a full adult either. We decided to go on with our shopping and discuss it.

We'd just gone on to Fred Myer and all we could talk about was this sweet little kitty. When we were checking out, we decided to take her home, so hubby got $60 from the ATM and immediately walked over to PetZoo while I took the groceries to the car and drove back. He was worried she would be adopted before we got back.

Of course there have been problems since we brought her home. Asuka hates her, and Dusty seems bewildered. Daisy didn't eat, drink, or potty the whole first 24 hours. The cats get into tiffs if they get too close to each other.

Now, on day four, they still get into small tiffs, but I'm usually standing over them when they are near each other. But Daisy is eating, drinking, using the litter box, and has her favorite cubby hole on top of the washer/dryer behind the hanging clothes. I brought some toys home, and she plays with them. She's investigating the house, she's talking to us all the time, she loves attention. The dogs don't even make her twitch.

Right now it seems impossible that the three cats will ever get friendly with each other. But at least we can now live (relatively) quietly and happily together. And maybe some day Daisy and Dusty will be playmates. I pray for this every day.

Here is the link to Clear Creek Cat Rescue. Daisy's profile was still on there at the time of this blog posting. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/AK43.html

Every time a cat gets adopted from them, they can rescue another cat from being put down at the shelter. For those readers living in Alaska, please consider these kitties for adoption.