After having relocated to sunny, hot Arizona we felt blessed to finally own a spacious home on the top of a hill overlooking the whole San Pedro Valley. With 360 degree views and almost five acres of land filled up with mesquite trees and various types of cactuses, we felt we had it all. But despite acquiring this dream home, in my heart, I knew something was missing.
During my childhood our home was always warmed up by the presence of a cat. Regardless if the cat was sleeping on a pillow or purring on the couch besides a crackling fire, a furry friend sure did play a role in making our home extra special. Now that we had this spacious home with so many rooms to explore and several windows boasting views of entertaining wildlife, we felt a special kitty had to be part of it all.
How it All Started
To be honest, I always dreamed of getting a Ragdoll kitten. A Ragdoll breeder used to often come to the veterinarian office I used to work for to get her cats vaccinated and I was enamored by their baby blue eyes and appealing coats. They also appeared to have quite a mellow, laid-back personality. So I started searching for a Ragdoll breeder in the area.
As I scrolled through pages of breeders with astounding looking kitties, a message from a blogger caught my attention and sort of made it through my heart. The blogger was claiming that many purebred kitties can be found in local shelters and that they would cost a fraction of the premiums asked by breeders. But best of all, by adopting from a shelter I was saving a cat possibly on death row and making room for many others.
So I started my search. I found Petfinder.com to be a marvelous website, structured almost like an online dating site. It matched you up with local kitties nearby your zip code. You could select the age, sex and breed of the cat you are looking for. My search yielded several great looking kitties of all colors but there was no trace of a Ragdoll. They were either too cute and were consequently adopted out fast or there were simply none available at the moment.
A Sudden Twist of Fate
Then I thought to myself: why be so strict and want a purebred cat? Weren’t some of my best childhood cats just plain domestic shorthair mutts? Why did I have to be so picky and selfish? So I started to take a glimpse of some great looking kitties and read their bios which were full on interesting facts.
”I love to purr in your lap all day” or ”adopt me and I will brighten your life” were some cute phrases included in their bios. Finally, a cute black, fluffy kitty attracted me more than others. What really draw me to this kitten was the fact that it resembled a kitten I fostered several years ago and had to regrettably give back to get adopted. I always regretted not keeping this special fellow, so this kitten almost resembling him was like getting that chance back.
I e-mailed the foster mom and asked her if I could stop by one day to see the kitten. She asked me several questions and then set up an appointment. She told me she would interview me and if she found we would make good kitty parents we could then come home with the kitten. We tried to keep our excitement low because we were not sure if there were other people interested in that kitten.
Jayne was the foster mom and she told us she was fostering for Paw’s Patrol, a non-profit organization located in Green Valley, Arizona. Before showing us the kitty, she asked us several general questions about where we would keep the cat, if we were planning to spay/neuter and if we had some money put aside in case of unexpected illnesses. Working for a vet and having fostered myself before, I think she liked my credentials. The next step now was getting to view the kitten.
The kitten’s name was Bear because he was fuzzy and very cute just like a little teddy-bear. It was love at first sight, but then we noticed that Bear had some litter mates in the background in search of homes too. Having fostered kittens in the past, I noticed how nice it was to have two. The moral of the story is that we ended up being approved for the adoption, and not only, we ended up bringing home his sibling as well! Midnight, a pitch-black domestic short-hair kitten indeed was coming home with us too! Being in a new home with a sibling would have made the transition much easier and they had each other to play within our spacious home.
Reaping the Rewards
Indeed, they felt at home almost immediately. They explored the home and were excited about the window views. They even played a bit of hide and seek from one room to another. I think they were very happy and so were we. Days later we took them to vet to continue their series of booster shots and then as agreed, a few months later they were both respectively spayed and neutered. Jayne kept in touch with us asking how the kittens were doing. We often provided updates and proudly sent pictures of how big the two fur balls were getting.
Four years have almost passed and Midnight and Bear are still sharing their life with us. They are very happy kitties and they surely kept to their duty of making our home quite special. I am happy I adopted from Paws Patrol instead of going the breeder route. These kitties are strong, never got sick and have the best personalities. But best of all, adopting them has helped other kittens in need and if I ever decide to add another cat or dog to our household, I know for a fact I will skip the breeder and go directly the rescue route!