mariko
Member Since 2011
Merry Christmas, my dear LL family!
It's been so long, and the board is new!
I wanted to tell you the news... I have a new cat.
It's going to be long, but can I tell you everything how this happened?
In late September, I started worrying that Ginger was spending too much time alone, and thought that maybe she might like a friend.
So I started looking through some adoptable cats on various shelter's websites.
A few of them caught my attention, but I was so deeply grieving still and didn't know if I really wanted to open my heart to another cat.
So in October, I decided to visit the nearest shelter, not to adopt, but to test how I feel about it.
And this visit made me realize that I wasn't ready at all yet. I just started crying and couldn't stop.
Before I left the shelter, I explained to them that I wasn't ready to adopt a new cat yet, but could I please have a copy of their application form because I wanted to see what the adoption requirements are for future reference.
Anyway, after this visit, I decided that I didn't want another cat yet, and stopped looking.
But this one cat I saw on a different shelter's website kept coming back to my mind.
She was a "special need" cat who had an inappropriate elimination issue, and was once adopted and returned because of this, but she was such a beautiful girl I was certain she'd be snatched in no time by someone who's willing to litter-box train her.
Then, one day I had a sign.
One day, I was just walking down the street, it's the street around the block that always makes me think of Lucy because I used to walk around that block to calm myself down whenever I felt upset or overwhelmed while I was caring for her, and something fell from a pocket of my bag without me even touching.
I picked it up and it was the application form I got from the first shelter I visited. I had forgotten about it.
I thought.... is this a sign? and when I got home, checked on this cat.
She was still there, and they uploaded a new photo. Her fur grew a lot since the first 2 pics I saw, and she was much fluffier and just the kind of cat I like, and of course I was even more drawn to her.
From this day, checking on her on the website became my daily routine.
I thought about it long and hard - about whether I'm ready, if Ginger would be OK, about the LB issue of this cat.
Finally last week, I decided that the first thing was to meet her, so I went to meet her last Saturday.
This shelter is about an hour drive away, and if I was going I wanted to go before it got any colder because I'm afraid of driving in snow.
Anyway, I found out that her LB problem is only for pooping (I can deal with that!), and she was so cute, quiet and gentle. I didn't want a diva cat because that might stress Ginger too much.
I felt right and wanted her, but I wanted to sleep on it, so I left.
The people at the shelter seemed they had already given up on finding her home, and were happy about me still being interested in her after knowing about her LB issue, and gave me a pre-approval to adopt her any time I could make up my mind because "she'd be there forever".
It bothered me a bit that she looks a bit like Lucy at first, but then after meeting her in person, she felt different and had a different presence and I thought anyway, what's wrong with being attracted to a cat who looks like the love of my life?
I can't help it and I'll never get over it.
Next day, I still felt right about her, so I drove an hour again and picked her up.
I took her straight to the vet, got a clean bill of health, and brought her home.
Meet Cashmere.
She already had this name and I am keeping it.
She is 1 yr 7 mo old.
Above are the first 2 pics of her I saw.
Below are the pics later added.
Today is her 5th day here, and she's been using her box like a good girl.
Zero accident so far.
She hid for 48 hours (Here, I called Wendy - "I adopted a cat, and I haven't seen her since we got home! I don't even know if she's eating or drinking enough!! And even Ginger is not eating like she normally does! Is this normal? )
On the 3rd night, she came out from under the bed, and she's been a love bug since.
She chirps and head-butts me every time I go into her room to clean her boxes and bring her fresh food/water.
She's still being kept in the smaller bedroom because Ginger is still nervous about her.
I've introduced them today for the first time through a baby-gate.
Ginger hissed. Cashmere didn't hiss back but didn't run back to hiding. I liked that.
I've been going into her room only 2 - 3 times a day for a short period of time, so Ginger doesn't think Cashmere is stealing my attention from her.
And I've been giving extra love to Ginger.
I really hope that Ginger will warm up to her a little bit more before the holiday ends.
I'm off today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. And I'll have to go back to work on Monday.,
Any tips on introducing a new cat to a timid-sh cat (=Ginger) would be very much appreciated.
Many Hugs and Happy Holidays,
Mariko, Ginger & Cashmere
It's been so long, and the board is new!
I wanted to tell you the news... I have a new cat.
It's going to be long, but can I tell you everything how this happened?
In late September, I started worrying that Ginger was spending too much time alone, and thought that maybe she might like a friend.
So I started looking through some adoptable cats on various shelter's websites.
A few of them caught my attention, but I was so deeply grieving still and didn't know if I really wanted to open my heart to another cat.
So in October, I decided to visit the nearest shelter, not to adopt, but to test how I feel about it.
And this visit made me realize that I wasn't ready at all yet. I just started crying and couldn't stop.
Before I left the shelter, I explained to them that I wasn't ready to adopt a new cat yet, but could I please have a copy of their application form because I wanted to see what the adoption requirements are for future reference.
Anyway, after this visit, I decided that I didn't want another cat yet, and stopped looking.
But this one cat I saw on a different shelter's website kept coming back to my mind.
She was a "special need" cat who had an inappropriate elimination issue, and was once adopted and returned because of this, but she was such a beautiful girl I was certain she'd be snatched in no time by someone who's willing to litter-box train her.
Then, one day I had a sign.
One day, I was just walking down the street, it's the street around the block that always makes me think of Lucy because I used to walk around that block to calm myself down whenever I felt upset or overwhelmed while I was caring for her, and something fell from a pocket of my bag without me even touching.
I picked it up and it was the application form I got from the first shelter I visited. I had forgotten about it.
I thought.... is this a sign? and when I got home, checked on this cat.
She was still there, and they uploaded a new photo. Her fur grew a lot since the first 2 pics I saw, and she was much fluffier and just the kind of cat I like, and of course I was even more drawn to her.
From this day, checking on her on the website became my daily routine.
I thought about it long and hard - about whether I'm ready, if Ginger would be OK, about the LB issue of this cat.
Finally last week, I decided that the first thing was to meet her, so I went to meet her last Saturday.
This shelter is about an hour drive away, and if I was going I wanted to go before it got any colder because I'm afraid of driving in snow.
Anyway, I found out that her LB problem is only for pooping (I can deal with that!), and she was so cute, quiet and gentle. I didn't want a diva cat because that might stress Ginger too much.
I felt right and wanted her, but I wanted to sleep on it, so I left.
The people at the shelter seemed they had already given up on finding her home, and were happy about me still being interested in her after knowing about her LB issue, and gave me a pre-approval to adopt her any time I could make up my mind because "she'd be there forever".
It bothered me a bit that she looks a bit like Lucy at first, but then after meeting her in person, she felt different and had a different presence and I thought anyway, what's wrong with being attracted to a cat who looks like the love of my life?
I can't help it and I'll never get over it.
Next day, I still felt right about her, so I drove an hour again and picked her up.
I took her straight to the vet, got a clean bill of health, and brought her home.
Meet Cashmere.
She already had this name and I am keeping it.
She is 1 yr 7 mo old.
Above are the first 2 pics of her I saw.
Below are the pics later added.
Today is her 5th day here, and she's been using her box like a good girl.
Zero accident so far.
She hid for 48 hours (Here, I called Wendy - "I adopted a cat, and I haven't seen her since we got home! I don't even know if she's eating or drinking enough!! And even Ginger is not eating like she normally does! Is this normal? )
On the 3rd night, she came out from under the bed, and she's been a love bug since.
She chirps and head-butts me every time I go into her room to clean her boxes and bring her fresh food/water.
She's still being kept in the smaller bedroom because Ginger is still nervous about her.
I've introduced them today for the first time through a baby-gate.
Ginger hissed. Cashmere didn't hiss back but didn't run back to hiding. I liked that.
I've been going into her room only 2 - 3 times a day for a short period of time, so Ginger doesn't think Cashmere is stealing my attention from her.
And I've been giving extra love to Ginger.
I really hope that Ginger will warm up to her a little bit more before the holiday ends.
I'm off today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. And I'll have to go back to work on Monday.,
Any tips on introducing a new cat to a timid-sh cat (=Ginger) would be very much appreciated.
Many Hugs and Happy Holidays,
Mariko, Ginger & Cashmere
