Now don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I would gladly have more if not the issues of pregnancy, money, and my love of sleep. However, I am only currently willing to expand my family in one way: kittens. Yes, kittens, plural. I know a lot of people refer to dogs as members of the family, well for me its cats, too. The furry little buggers get me every time.
When we moved here two and a half years ago (has is really been that long????) we had two cats, Stoli and Mo. I got Stoli when I lived in Arizona in 2000. I moved him across country in my jeep with my other cat Ace when I moved back to Michigan. We got Mo in 2004 a few weeks after Ace was hit by a car and died - one of the saddest days of my life, but I digress. Stoli was my "killer" cat. He wasn't much into attention or being a "pet". He looked after his territory, which we were a part of, but it was really more about his world and we just happened to be in it. Mo was a playful, crazy, please-pet-me kind of cat. They balanced each other quite nicely.
The day after we moved (YES, ONE FREAKING DAY) Stoli ran away. He was 12 years old and clearly wanted no part of our lives anymore. We asked our new neighbors to keep an eye out, but no one ever saw him. It was sad, but he was the kind of cat you might expect such an abrupt exit and at least we still had Mo.
Mo, Big Fat Mo, was great. He let the kids poke and pull at him and was always up for a good belly rub. Well, last summer Big Fat Mo became I-Can-See-Every-Rib-In-His-Body Mo. In just a short time (a month or so) he was super skinny, lethargic, and barely eating. Poor guy was sick, real sick. And one day he just never came home. It was very sad, but it's also a natural part of life and we know in our hearts he found himself a peaceful spot to rest in peace after a good 9 year run.
So for the past year or so we've been talking about getting a new cat. It just never seemed liked the right time. It was winter, we were super busy, we would be gone a lot, etc. Until a few weeks ago, and then it was time. Time to bring some more craziness to our lives in the form of a cat.
I started to research places on the internet, shelters and such. In Michigan and Arizona I always went to the humane society, but they don't have that here. They have plenty of shelters, SPCA, and such, but from what I found I needed to schedule things or go to a pet store for their animals. So...I got the family together for an outing to Pet Co nearby that had shelter cats/kittens. They didn't have much, but they had an adorable grey and white kitten that we all loved. We filled out the paperwork and eagerly waited for the screening call that we would surely pass. Except that we didn't. Apparently any thought of letting a cat outdoors of a millisecond was too much for this shelter to bear...
We were bummed. I WAS BUMMED. How could we not be the perfect family? EVERYONE wanted this cat! We have 4 kids that NEVER agree on ANYTHING until this kitten. Well, it seems the universe had different plans. I was referred by a friend to the League of Animal Welfare. I LOVE THIS PLACE. They were so nice, the facility was clean, and they let my 4 year old and 20 month old "visit" (aka terrorize) the cats for as long as we needed to find our perfect pet.
Rylan was instantly drawn to a black and white cat in the older kitten room (12 weeks or so). We spent awhile with these kittens and after a bit I began getting attached to an orange tabby, I loved him. As cute as these guys were, I wanted to make sure that Rylan saw all of the cats they had so we bounced around to the tiny kitten room (6-8 weeks) and the young adult cat room. We could have taken a cat/kitten home from any of these rooms, but Rylan and I kept going back to our original guys. We had clearly bonded and we were clearly going home with not one, but TWO kittens.
And so here we are with Jack (attack) and George (or Red or some other name we haven't come up with yet). Jack is a bit crazy, thus Jack Attack. And George is a quiet cuddly type, but has a definite I'm-the-boss-so-don't-mess-with-me attitude if you cross him. The kids are loving them and it feels good to have cats in the house again.
Our family is complete, for now at least :)
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