It’s been not quite a month since we lost Quinnie, and for the last few days, the husband and I had been talking about maybe starting to look for a new resident feline - since we do have an opening in the good home department, and so many homes are so desperately needed, after all.
We poked our digital heads in at a few regional rescues, but ultimately decided to do our first walk-in at the Seattle Humane Society, which is all the way out in the ass-end of Bellevue for some reason (but it’s a grand facility, I do admit). When we sat down with one of the coordinators, we talked about how we were open to a wide range of cat experiences, really, and the only hard “no” would be an indoor/outdoor (or former barn-type) cat. This is because (a). we live within a few blocks of two fairly busy roads, and (b). the vast and overwhelming majority of domestic cats should be kept indoors regardless, don’t fucking @-me, as the kids say.
Anyway.
I also told the nice lady that so far as cats went, we’d had half a dozen years of pretty intensive feline medical stuff going on - that is, the dearly departed eldercat, then Quinnie. The last several years of the eldercat’s life, she was on fluids 2-3 times a week, 2 different meds, and she had a vet visit every 8-10 weeks to drain a sebaceous cyst on her lower lip (or else it would grow too large, and she would have trouble eating). Then there was the World’s Most Expensive Free Kitten, who - even before the cancer - had cost us a boatload of money over the years. She had digestive problems from the get-go, developed a degenerative joint condition requiring several rounds of pricey therapy and many meds for the last half of her life - and then came the cancer, of course. Four meds daily, two vet visits weekly (one almost an hour away) and and and and… and.
So I said that I hoped they understood that we would really love someone a little…lower touch this time, perhaps. I’m all about the less-adoptable critters, don’t get me wrong - but maybe, this once, we could at least start out with a healthy young animal. No FIV/FIP, no diabetics, no one who needs fluids, etc. If that would be okay. Likewise, a tiny kitten would be more adventure than we were looking for. Preferably, we were seeking a healthy adult animal who is already familiar with dogs - though obviously, the dog thing wouldn’t be a deal-breaker. We understand that shelters don’t always have a lot of background on their residents, and even cats who’ve never lived with dogs can often acclimate happily thereunto.
And what did we fall in love with? Literally the first cat we sat down with, just like when we adopted the elder cat, all those years ago.
We sat down with a 2-year old boy cat from a managed stray/feral colony in Hawaii. He was ultimately trapped and sent here to the continent when he turned up with a badly injured back leg - which eventually had to be amputated; then somewhere along the way he picked up an upper-respiratory infection and an eye infection, so he came with a full set of meds and syringes and special food.
Because of course he did.
Look, he’s kind of a raggedy little fellow, I won’t lie. His coat is bunny-soft but very thin and patchy, and his amputation point is nicely healed - but still half-bald, as the surgery only occurred a few weeks ago. He was badly flea-bitten, and though he’s since been treated, he’s still scratching at scabs all of the place, bless his heart. He has one weird claw on his front right foot that I suspect will need some kind of attention at some point, as he can’t retract it and it sticks up funny. (Looks like maybe he broke a toe once upon a time? Hard to say - but it doesn’t seem to bother him at all.)
By which I mean: He’s basically perfect, and he’s presently holed up in my office to decompress.
His name at the shelter was [::sigh::] “Hodor.” Apparently the person who was keeping an eye on the cat colony dubbed him that, as a Game of Thrones fan - plus, this little dude is about 11 pounds even though he’s rail thin and missing a quarter of the usual limbs. Compared to Quinnie he seems positively petite, but he was described as “large” in the paperwork. Therefore… “Hodor.” But we will not be keeping that name.
So far, we haven’t settled on anything new. We’re taking a little time to get to know him first.
They sent us home with a copy of his existing (appallingly extensive) medical history, and at every stop someone noted his temperament as “So sweet!” “Gentle giant!” etc. - always with an exclamation mark, which tracks, because he’s about the snuggliest sonofabitch I ever met. I mean this cat LOVES people. Purrs like a mofo, and you can hear him across the room. And he’ll be finished with the last of his meds in another six days, so. Not a big deal. He takes them in his food. No pilling necessary. (And he’s already done with the eyedrops.)
And now to answer the question on everyone’s minds: What about the dogs? Well, the intro went about as well as could be expected, considering.
We brought the little dude inside the house via the carrier, and we let the dogs give it a good sniff. This elicited a couple of warning hisses that were not too serious (no swiping, no efforts to grab or bite through the bars); then we set him up in my office to chill for a bit, while the dogs whined piteously about the situation. There was a CAT. In our HOUSE. And they were not being allowed to LICK ITS BUTT or SNIFF ITS EARS. Clearly, this was some kind of OVERSIGHT that MUST BE CORRECTED.
Lucy eventually lost interest. Greyson is still guarding the office door.
At one point, Greyson eagerly shoved past me to get closer to the cat than I meant for him to. This earned him a face-full of whappity paws, which concerned me at first - then I realized that no claws had been deployed whatsoever. The little dude realized that the dog meant him no harm; he just didn’t want a strange dog in his face, thanks.
Later, because the kitty seemed cautiously amenable to the situation, I let Greyson come into the office with me. He whined gently, but had learned his lesson - and he kept a respectful distance. He circled the room, collected some sniffs, and received one more idle hiss of suspicion before he took the hint and left of his own accord. The cat never even bothered to get up and swipe at him - much less run off and hide.
Those two will be pals in no time, I’m pretty sure, but Lucy will be a little trickier. Let me put it this way: Lucy has never harmed a cat, but she has offended a few.
Much like Quinnie, this cat has juuuuuuust a tiny touch of the ol’ YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK YOU about him, and he might need a little space. Lucy isn’t always great about hearing a “no” or giving someone their requested space.
Lucy always viewed Spain - and then Quinnie - as The Cat, Who Is the Boss. But we adopted Lucy into a cat household, while this sweet little gent was brought onto Lucy’s dog turf instead. Here, now, Lucy is the boss. There’s always a chance that she’ll be like, YOU KNOW WHAT FUCK YOU ALSO in return to some slight, and scare the kitty badly enough that he rejects the household like a transplanted organ. Or maybe he’ll erroneously decide that even gentle old Greyson is Bad News. Misunderstandings happen.
Should anything like that occur, yes, we will seek other placement for this very fine young man. We want what’s best for him and what’s best for the dogs, too, and if that means they can’t and won’t live together peacefully, well. Sometimes that’s how it goes.
But we are patient, and we know our dogs very, very well. As I said, we’ve temporarily installed the kitty alone in my office, where the dogs otherwise spend more time than I do (to be frank) - so he’ll get a good familiarizing dose of their scent without their presence. Conveniently, that’s also where the murphy bed is; so my husband and I will be switching out sleeping upstairs for a few days, and gradually giving the little man greater access to the house as he feels more comfortable - with us, with the space, and with the dogs.
So that’s the big news over here! We have a new resident, and things will be strange for a bit, but it’s a good thing overall. Keep an eye on my Twitter and/or BlueSky (if you’re over there) for regular pics. He’s a handsome little guy and I, for one, cannot get enough of him.
<3