How Did I Get Here?: Cats

I buy cat food at a locally owned pet store in town. They have good coupons and I always need canned food for Pete and Binx and also when Kiki comes to visit. The pet store always has a cat for adoption and I like to take a quick look and then move on. One day in August I looked at the cat and then read the cat's bio on the door. It stated that Maryella had been at the Human Society since November 2020 and the staff couldn't figure out why nobody wanted her because she is sweet, loves hugs, and gets along with other cats and dogs. That was 9 months in captivity!! I was sad but just knew someone would adopt her so I backed away, like I always do.

Three weeks later I needed more food and I had another great coupon. I was so sad to see that Maryella was still there. When I was at the check out, I asked the cashier what happens to the cats that are not adopted and found they are sent back to the Human Society. The cashier was sad too because it was soon time for Maryella to go back.

Driving home I made the decision to adopt her. I told Mike and he agreed, even without seeing her! I went to work the next day and thought I had better go meet MaryElla during my lunch break. I hadn't really met her or touched or held her. So a colleague of mine and I drove over. When we walked in the cashier welcomed us and asked if we needed help finding anything. I told him we were there to meet the cat. He said "great, we just go him an hour ago". Oh no!!! Maryella was gone! We jumped in the car and headed over to the Humane Society to tell them I wanted her. They put her in a room with us but I didn't really need to meet her, I just filled out the forms and said I would be back after work to get her.

I was a little worried about her meeting my cats and we were also watching Kiki at the time. We set Maryella up in the spare bedroom with food, water, a bed, and a litter box. She was frightened but was happy to be out of a cage. Kiki really wanted to meet her.

A week after we adopted her, I went on vacation for two weeks while Mike stayed home. When I came back, MaryElla who we now call Ella, had adjusted to her new home and her new friends Pete and Binx. Kiki had gone home by this time. Ella sits with Mike in his chair, not on his lap, and sometimes another cat will be there with them. She is still a little skittish and looks around when she hears any little noise but every day she was becoming more trusting. Her favorite place is the basement but she is starting to come upstairs more often. Her safe space is still the spare bedroom but we decided since she was getting more comfortable, we would take everything out of her safe space.

A couple of days later, Mike called me at work and said there was a cat on the landing of our upstairs porch crying to come in. I told him not to let it in and to not feed it.

LET ME IN!!!

When I got home, the cat was screaming so we put him on the bottom porch with some food and water. He was very hungry. I called Molly to tell her to start posting on social media that we had found a cat. I felt so bad for this cat. He had a flea collar on but was very skinny and full of burrs. Mike cleaned him up and this cat kept eating and eating. We couldn't believe a cat was wanting to adopt us, right after we adopted Ella! Ella must have put the secret cat ESP signal out to all cats loose in the area to come on over! Cat friendly house!

No one claimed Sammy and we are not sure why. He is a fun loving, happy go lucky guy. We decided he could live with Molly and Kiki and if that didn't work, he could stay with us. He lived out on the porch for two weeks until he was neutered.. We were thankful for the nice weather for him to stay out because we did let him in once and he wanted to spray everything. Now that he has been to the vet, we haven't seen him trying to do that, thank goodness. Pete, Binx, and Ella are not sure about him yet because he is full of energy. Sammy can't figure out why the other cats don't want to play with him all the time. There has been a lot of hissing and slapping but we know things will calm down. Sammy really enjoyed moving in with us.