Today I visited my local shelter that I very much love, to check in and play with my kitty friends there.
This visit, though, I fell in love with a cat. You know how sometimes an animal comes into your life that you just click with? It was instant.
There was a new cat that wasn't there last time I made it in for a visit. She made such a strong impression that if I had no cats of my own, I definitely would have filled out an application for her right there on the spot.
But the problem is that she is not a great match for my existing cat, Astrid.
This shelter cat, Hazel, is very posessive. When other cats tried to get near me, while I was giving her attention or not, she smacked them in the head to make them leave. No other aggression, no claws, but she made her point clear, every time.
My existing cat, Astrid was feral, and is still shy and not 100% socialized. My plan was to pick a cat FOR her once we got her settled and comfortable after our move (next month). She just screams cat social to me, I think she would greatly benefit from a confident, better socialized companion that could give her more confidence of her own. Another cat social cat that she could bond with.
So you can probably see my conundrum. Hazel actually would be a perfect match for Astrid, if she got along better with other cats. She checks off all of my other boxes. Maybe she'd do better with only one cat to live with, that she is carefully introduced to and has a chance to bond with. But if things didn't go well between the two, I'd be afraid Astrid would retreat even more.
Regardless, I won't be able to bring another cat into my life for at least a month, if not longer. It would be a big deal to come back for this particular cat, and with so much personality, there's a good chance she'll be adopted by the time I could make the trip. I can live with that. She deserves a good home. But if she's available when I'm looking, I don't know if I could knowingly pass her up.
I haven't been able to get her out of my mind since I left the shelter. So I want to think this through ahead of time, and what better way to do that than ask all my fellow cat lovers on the cat site for their advice and opinions? What do you guys think? My head says she's not a smart match, but my heart says she picked me and we clicked in a way that doesn't happen every day. Its hard to ignore that.
Above all, it's important to me that I do what's best for both cats. So whatever comes of this fateful encounter, I need to make sure all possible outcomes have everyone's best interests in mind.
This visit, though, I fell in love with a cat. You know how sometimes an animal comes into your life that you just click with? It was instant.
There was a new cat that wasn't there last time I made it in for a visit. She made such a strong impression that if I had no cats of my own, I definitely would have filled out an application for her right there on the spot.
But the problem is that she is not a great match for my existing cat, Astrid.
This shelter cat, Hazel, is very posessive. When other cats tried to get near me, while I was giving her attention or not, she smacked them in the head to make them leave. No other aggression, no claws, but she made her point clear, every time.
My existing cat, Astrid was feral, and is still shy and not 100% socialized. My plan was to pick a cat FOR her once we got her settled and comfortable after our move (next month). She just screams cat social to me, I think she would greatly benefit from a confident, better socialized companion that could give her more confidence of her own. Another cat social cat that she could bond with.
So you can probably see my conundrum. Hazel actually would be a perfect match for Astrid, if she got along better with other cats. She checks off all of my other boxes. Maybe she'd do better with only one cat to live with, that she is carefully introduced to and has a chance to bond with. But if things didn't go well between the two, I'd be afraid Astrid would retreat even more.
Regardless, I won't be able to bring another cat into my life for at least a month, if not longer. It would be a big deal to come back for this particular cat, and with so much personality, there's a good chance she'll be adopted by the time I could make the trip. I can live with that. She deserves a good home. But if she's available when I'm looking, I don't know if I could knowingly pass her up.
I haven't been able to get her out of my mind since I left the shelter. So I want to think this through ahead of time, and what better way to do that than ask all my fellow cat lovers on the cat site for their advice and opinions? What do you guys think? My head says she's not a smart match, but my heart says she picked me and we clicked in a way that doesn't happen every day. Its hard to ignore that.
Above all, it's important to me that I do what's best for both cats. So whatever comes of this fateful encounter, I need to make sure all possible outcomes have everyone's best interests in mind.