All's Well That Ends Well

Well as you can probably guess from the title of this post, I got another cat.

Turns out, I called around to see if anyone had a Birman in their shelter, yesterday, and no one did. Still, I was set on a cat or kitten, but I badly wanted one that looked like Grayson. My heart was still grieving for him. But after looking around on the Internet, and finding no other cat that had those markings I decided to go the Animal Shelter and see what they did have.

At the Shelter they had a kitten that looked similar but smaller than Grayson But it was wild with reaching It's little paws through the gated door of it's pen trying to claw whoever got close enough and crying this pitiful loud hoarse cry and climbing up the grate of the door. the poor little thing was all wet probably from turning over his water bowl.

Any way I took pity on it any took it out to go to the little room where you can shut yourself off from the noise of the rest of the animals and just get to know your kitten. But this little kitten couldn't even settle down with lots of petting and coaxing It kept running and jerking around the room and would hardly let you hold him. When I did finally get to hold him I held him quite firmly and snuggled it right up to my chest. It held still for about 10 or 15 seconds and then start clawing and jerking around to get away from me again. The poor little thing was so badly traumatized that I doubted it would ever be normal again. Needless to say I didn't get that little kitten.

As I was about to walk out of the shelter I noticed a little cat in the display Plexiglas pens in the foyer and realized that it was a gold tabby point birman with such delicate markings that it almost looked white. So I took this cat back to the little room and it was adorable. It was curious about the room and had to check out the little cat condo they have there and also climb the five foot excuse for a tree. It made it to the top of the "tree" and had nowhere to go so it sat there a minute and then looked at me as if to say "could you help me down?"

When I picked her up, she purred and purred and as I held her, she kept snuggling up to me, even gently licking my face. She was as sweet tempered as was Grayson and as affectionate as well. She has all the marking of a true Birman right down to the white feet but she doesn't have the long hair and she doesn't look like she is going to be a very big cat as most Birman's are
Anyway, I bought her.

She did have a little trouble with the car ride home but not as bad as Grayson. When I got her home I had to keep her in the "kitty bus" they gave me at the shelter while I disinfected every thing that Grayson had touched. I got a bucket of soapy Clorox water, stripped down to my underwear, and started washing everything inside and out. It's a good thing I stripped down because I was soaked by the time I got everything washed. The next thing I did was to use a mop and mopped the floor of the laundry room and for good measure I mopped all the tile everywhere he could have walked.

By then Joe had come home and helped get the litter box full of litter for me and get everything back in the room as it should be. Then I let the kitten out of the box to look around her new home. She went around the room sniffing everything and finally settled in on her food and water bowels She drank a little and then was ready to be picked up and held. I could tell by the way she climbed up my leg and purred so I picked her up :P

So, anyway, we spent the rest of the day just hanging out together. She didn't want to be left in a room by herself and would follow me where ever I went. Even to the point of getting in front of my feet so I wouldn't get away from her. She did this all the way down the hall. I just about stepped on her a couple of times so I had to pick her up, which was what she wanted all along.

She has turned out as companionable as Grayson was and just as good with the Grand-kids. She lets them pet her and doesn't run away from them, even the little ones. She has two drawbacks:

She has very sharp claws and she sheds like crazy. I am going to have her declawed next week by Dr DeGerring who does a procedure that isn't as painful for the cat. He doesn't take off the claw back to the first knuckle as is the standard practice. He only takes out the claw itself. So the cat can be out of the hospital the same day, you don't have to use any special litter for the litter box, and there isn't nearly the pain and trauma to the animal.

As for the shedding I have bought several of those roller, sticky things that pick up cat hair. I plan to use them ferociously. To save my clothes, I have designated two shirts and two mumus to be used when holding Gold Kitty (for want of a better name. We haven't yet named her). And I am going to train her not to sit on the furniture, as well.

I love this kitten just as much as I loved Grayson. I hope nothing happens to her.

I could hardly believe my good fortune to find that she is "potty trained." She feel so comfortable around us that when I shut her in the laundry room for the night, and shut off the light she just climbed up into the basket that I made for her to sleep in and settled right down - no crying at all. AT ALL. Not a peep.

Now I'm going to have to get a years supply of food and kitty litter for her. But I don't mind in the least. She's worth it.

Jenni, Joey, Emma and Matthew have all been here to see the new kitty and to play with her. She was so cute with them and played with the cat toy with them for about 10 minutes. Emma hasn't yet made the connection that this isn't Grayson. I don't remember if it was me or her that first said the name but at one point she called the kitten "Goldson."

I just LOVE this little kitten!!! Thanks Heavenly Father, I honestly didn't think I'd ever find a cat so lovable and sweet as Grayson was but this one is! Thank You again.