It’s a sad day at the Ford house. We will be catless by the end of the day. And your thinking cats… you had cats. Well yes, for the last 14 days. My mother-in-law, Doris, shared 2 cats with her sisters when she was living in New Jersey and we actually had a cat about 15 years or so ago. Doris had asked Evelyn, my wife, and I about the possibility of getting a cat when she moved in, so Evelyn and I had been mulling it over for a couple of months. Finally a couple of weeks ago we decided that a cat would be a good thing. Doris would have some company during the day while we worked and the house was a perfect setup since it was a bi-level with lots of ledges, etc. for the cats to play and hang out. That’s right I said “cats” since we wound up getting two.
It started out innocent enough, we went to the Humane Society on a Saturday to look around. Doris didn’t see any cats that she really connected with. Evelyn on the other hand had found Rocco, a male kitten who was about 2-3 months old. He was very cute and energetic and looked a lot like the cat we had about 15 years ago. We debated about it but decided against adopting him since we were there to get Doris a cat. Well, the weekend drug on and I couldn’t stop thinking about Rocco. Evelyn as well had been thinking about him so on Monday Doris and I went back to the shelter but Rocco was gone.
That should have been the sign that Evelyn and I didn't need a cat and we should just get one for Doris but I was hooked. Doris and I scoped out the shelter, Petsmart and Petco. We found 2 cats, Mimi (the agency called her Angie) and Roxie. Mimi was a 4 mo. old gray and white female and Roxie was a 3 mo old solid black female. They were as cute as could be and very loving. Now don’t get me wrong, we have had cats in the past and thought we were prepared for raising these two. What we hadn’t realized was that we had less patience now that we were older. These 2 cats were a huge tour de force of energy. They slept most of the day and came alive in the afternoon. Climbing the curtains, chewing on the carpet, scratching everything in sight, eating the fake plants, and crawling into any nook and cranny that they could find. And the smells, I’m not talking about your normal cat box orders here. These cats smelled as bad as my father did after a huge dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It would instantly fill the house and gag you. Also we did not think about what to do with the cats if we went on vacation. The last thing I wanted to do was ask a friend to come over and clean out a litter box.
So after much debate and a long family discussion yesterday, all 3 of us decided we were not cut out to be good parents to the cats so we contacted their respective adoption agencies. Mimi’s adoption agency picked her up this morning and we are still waiting to hear from Roxie’s.
Below are the links to the 2 agencies. Contact them if you are interested in adopting animals and hopefully you will be better prepared than we were. Also I have posted photos of the 2 cuties just so you can see how hard a decision it was.
Look What the Cat Brought In http://lookwhatthecatbroughtin.org
SAINT Animal Rescue http://www.saintanimalrescue.org (As of 08/25=09, I can no longer in good faith recommend SAINT Animal Rescue.)
