If you’ve ever rescued a cat, you know that you don’t adopt them – they adopt you. Since my last kitty lived to the sweet old age of 19, it had been a long time since I had the experience. But, happily, I did remember the most important part of the adoption process – waiting until it was right.
Getting Past the Grief
Sadly, I lost four animals in the span of one year. It was heart-breaking and it took a while to find the strength to open my home and heart again. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have more furry babies, because I did. Yet, somehow it felt like getting another cat or dog meant the ones I lost could somehow be replaced. And the truth was, they could never be replaced – they will always have a special part of my heart.
Getting past the grief took me a while. Almost a year went by and I realized I wasn’t honoring my lost companions with my refusal to adopt again. I was actually denying another animal a loving home. Finally, I was ready to love and adopt again.
The Disappointment
When I set out to adopt a new kitty, I had a wish list of what I wanted. Cute would be nice, but calm was more important. A kitten wasn’t in the cards, because I worked quite a bit and wanted an older cat that had already been trained. But, most important, I wanted a lap cat. I drown my animals in affection and need them to be able to withstand hugs, kisses and lots of loving.
The weekend I made up my mind to adopt, I was the first one through the door at the SPCA in Largo, Florida. Even before they opened, I could see volunteers busily running around – feeding, cleaning, walking and comforting all types of animals.
When I got inside, the first thing I noticed was the facility was immaculate and they had so many kitties. There had to be over 100 cats of all ages, sizes, breeds and temperaments. I was in heaven. I thought surely I would come home with the cat of my dreams.
The one thing that impressed me the most was the endless patience the shelter workers had with me. They literally introduced me to 27 cats in the time I spent at the shelter. I saw beautiful cats and cute kittens – but, none of them exhibited all three characteristics on my wish list – calm, older and extremely affectionate. After five long hours, I left the shelter without a cat to call my own and I felt defeated.
This routine was repeated three more weekends in a row. I visited every shelter in the area and somehow none of the cats I saw felt right. By the fifth weekend, I gave up and stopped looking. The disappointment was hard to describe.
The Surprise of my Purr-fect Companion
One night I stopped at a PetSmart in Clearwater, Florida, to purchase dog food for a local rescue group. PetSmart routinely hosts adoption events of all types and helps many rescue groups showcase animals for adoption, so this was also one of the places I had visited in previous weeks.
As I was leaving, I remembered this PetSmart always had about 5 to 10 cats from different rescue groups on their premises. I decided to take a peek and walked into the small enclosure. None of the cats caught my eye and just as I turned to walk out, a white mitten paw reached through the bars of a cage and tapped my arm. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around to see this older cat with a torn right ear staring right into my eyes. He let out a single, “m-u-r-r-o-w.”
A PetSmart employee was there cleaning cages and I quickly asked, “Can I see this cat?” She happily unlocked the cage and placed him in my arms. He climbed up my chest, put his paws around my neck, hugged me and purred. It took me fifteen minutes to fill out an application, I parted with $70 and I was on my way home with a clean, healthy and fully-vetted cat. He was calm, older and extremely affectionate. In short, he was “purr-fect” and he’s been my buddy ever since.
Looking back, I could have rushed things and brought home another cat in previous weeks. But, I’m glad I didn’t. I waited until I was ready, made a list of the qualities I knew would be right for me and waited until the right kitty came along and adopted me. If you’re ready, my advice is to wait until the right one picks you and you’ll be guaranteed a “purr-fect” companion, too.