We Have Cats

3 weeks ago, we adopted two cats from the Hanover Humane Society.  We were almost rejected as adoptive parents! GET OUT OF MY BEDROOM!!! Oh wait, not because we're gay.  They checked two personal references and called our old vet who reported that we'd not gotten old Spot a shot.  Huh?  We have no independent recollection of declining to get him any shot he needed - the vet may have said - hey, we could shoot him with this, but since he's never out on his own, he really doesn't need it or he's 17, I think he'd be fine without it and then we'd say OK, let's skip it.

Not sure how they decided to ignore that, but fortunately they did and we were able to bring home Petunia & Tank.  At pick up time, the agency let them run around the room while we signed the 20 pages of paperwork for each of them (really you guys?  Really?).  Tank was playing with a little toy mouse while Petunia hid.  We'd put the cat carriers on the floor and Tank immediately carried the mouse over & put it in the carrier.  Little did we understand where we'd find that mouse (and all the others we've gotten in the last weeks) around the house.  We had to wrestle Petunia into the carrier and she cried the whole ride home.  Heartbreaking!

We got them home and confined them to the guestroom.  Instead of running under the bed, they chose the dresser (much safer).    Fortunately, they are still kittens (8 & 10 months), so feather on a string or a toy mouse is just irresistible.  But it was hard that first week when we had to coax them out every time.  Food & treats wouldn't work, only playing.  And so we played for hours.  Whenever they'd get close enough to us, we'd give them a gentle pet, letting them know that they were safe and we are safe for them.

Now three weeks later, they race around the house like the thundering herd that they've become.  We have our rituals that they haven't quite gotten accustomed to - like after playing for an hour, it would be nice to GO TO SLEEP!!!!!  And Tank loves to chase Petunia off the bed at 5am and then wake me up to pet him and play with him.   This may be cute at 7am or 9am, but at 5am, it's a behavior I'm working to change. 

Petunia is such a kind soul.  She loves to chase a string and jump and grab a feather, but she is a gentle kind.  Tank is jealous of any attention we give her, so we often have to double-team them, just to make sure Petunia is getting enough affection.  There's been no lap-sitting, which I'm still hoping for, but they do sleep on me every night.  They just wait until I fall asleep to come to bed.  I have hope that they'll grow to understand that if they come to bed while we're awake, we will pet them and love them and make them purr.

Maybe next month!  But I surely do love having cats in my life again.