So, How Is Grace Settling In?

We adopted a kitty from the Shelter about 6 weeks ago.  And her name is Grace. And Grace is doing just fine, thank you.

When I wrote my previous post about her, she was still pretty much confined to a smallish room off the rec room downstairs.  She spent a lot of time in one of those multi-level cat “condos.”  Here she is in her debut film.

But now, WOW! She’s got the run of the house (except for the basement and my office), and she’s lovin’ every minute of it!

 

We’ve settled into a routine:

1. Up early for 1^st feeding at about 6 a.m.;
2. A little play while Matt and I are downstairs drinking our morning coffee;
3. Grace retires to the window-side chair to sleep & watch the birds and squirrels;
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until the dinnertime feeding;
5. Eat the rest of the  second 3-oz. can of food for dinner;
6. Repeat steps 2 & 3 till Matt & I go to bed for the night.
7. Do it all again the next day.

Grace has a couple of play-related quirks that I find odd, but endearing.

• Let’s play fetch! Soon after she arrived in our home I bought a card of 6 or 7 plastic balls with bells in them.  They were an instant hit. We throw them; she brings them back.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat.  I never heard of a cat playing fetch, before; but Grace does.  (Except when she loses interest. She’s a cat, after all; and she’ll play when she’s ready. Sometimes it’ll be the wrong color; she’ll play with the yellow one this time than-you-very-much.)

• A binky? She has a “binky”? She “discovered” a thick rubber band one day.  I could stop there & not say anything else, and cat owners would probably smile knowingly.  Yes, cats are fascinated with circular objects.  Suffice it to say that she has gotten h-o-u-r-s of play from that simple “toy.”  She pounces on it. She shoves in under the rug & then plays at getting it out.  And oh yes; why am I not surprised that she wants to play “fetch” with it.  Why do I call it her “binky”? She will walk all around the house with it hanging out of her mouth. It reminds me of a small child with their “binky” blanket that goes everywhere with them.

Grace is settling in quite nicely.  She’s beginning to have us wrapped around her little paws.  It’s tough to know sometimes just who’s in charge here.

I think I’ll keep her.

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The Name of the Cat Is “Grace”

I want to thank those of you who took the time to vote on which name to pick for the new cat.  All of the selections (except for maybe “Seven”) were under serious consideration.  The Poll is now closed.

As I sat here in the downstairs office yesterday (where the cat had been confined since her arrival on Wednesday afternoon) a new name dawned on me: Grace.

I think it fits with the circumstances of her life and adoption.  It is by grace that she was allowed to survive the hellish conditions of her early months with the cat hoarder. And it is by grace that I adopted her.  (I actually entered the shelter expecting to look at “Gertrude.” I didn’t get past Grace’s “condo” at the shelter. I was smitten.) See my earlier post here.

So, how is Grace faring?  She spent the remainder of her first day home hiding between a box and the outside wall.  When I woke up Thursday she had moved.  Now she was on the other side of the room behind the futon.  Today (Friday) she’s been all around the room, but has been careful to not be picked up.

This is puzzling because she was not this skittish at the Shelter. In fact, she was described as “affectionate” and “lap cat” on her condo card. I blame the vet. 🙂

The shelter shipped her to the vet’s to get spayed.  The good news was that the vet discovered Grace had already been spayed so the procedure didn’t need to happen. (Apparently the cat hoarder at least had done the right thing and had a lot of her cats spayed.)

The bad news is that I think Grace was PO’d at having to go to the vet’s.  Not only that, but she had to bear the indignity of a half-hour ride home in a dark pet carrier, only to be deposited in someplace that was considerably larger than her “condo” at the shelter.

She’s coming around though.  I just need patience.

Help Me Name My Cat

What's My Name?

UPDATE: The cat has a name. Welcome Grace.

I don’t have a name yet. Well, not a real name that I can call my own. But YOU can help.

My adoptive parents have come up with a short-list of possible names.  You can help them by voting on your favorite or even suggesting a new one.

Falling in Love With a Furry Friend in Need (Can It Happen to You, Too?)

What's not to love?

On Saturday my husband and I went to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter to adopt a cat.  As it turns out they were having a special “Be Mine, Feline”  adoption promotion.

You see, they had so many cats from the November 19, 2010 hoarding case in Annandale, Virginia, (local TV news story) that they are making a special effort to match cats and kittens with loving homes.  They’ve already adopted out a significant number of the cats, but are using this promotion to place all of the remaining ones.

After looking at the available cats on line, we sorta had our eye on Gertrude.  But after we got to the shelter and as I walked by one of the other cat condos, a young brown tabby kitten caught my eye. After a bit of interaction with her I knew this was The One.

She wasn’t yet available for adoption Saturday; but I will be at the Shelter at 12:00 sharp on Tuesday to complete the process.  She will need to be neutered, so I probably won’t be able to bring her home until Thursday. I’ll post a picture as soon as it’s available.

I can’t wait! It will be good to have a cat around the house again.

It breaks my heart that all the cats that arrived at the Shelter on November 19, 2010, have the Intake Type of “CUSTODY/CRUELTY” on their identification cards.  I’m so happy to be able to provide one of those cats with a loving, safe home.

So please, if you have room in your home for one of these cats (or for one of the many others at the Shelter), please contact the Shelter.