(Moving this from my comments section. Originally posted on 5/3/08)

Somewhere, my late cat Scotch is smiling down on me today.

I went to a local animal shelter today. Actually, it was an event at the Petco up in Kenosha that my mom read about. Petco was sponsoring for one of the local cat shelters, Kindred Kitties. So, I asked mom to head up with me, and away we went late this morning.

Of course, they had kittens and younger adults of various sizes and colors. As we walked around the crates full of cats and kittens, the only plan I had in mind is that I wanted a male, for the totally illogical reason that between myself, the dogs and the cats I currently have, the girls outnumbered the guys, 3-2.

I stopped at one crate that had what looked to be a Maine Coon inside. One of the volunteers had taken him out of his crate and at this time, a man had walked up with his 1/2 grown German Shepherd. The cat didn't even flinch. +1 for the cat...isn't afraid of dogs.

Now, I've always loved Maine Coon cats and have always wanted one, but I wasn't going to base my decision on that. Matter of fact, I really wanted to try to let a cat pick me. Well, as I picked the big cat up, he snuggled his head into my chest and started purring. So much for looking at the other cats. I asked one of the volunteers about him.

He's at the very least a Maine Coon mix. 10 years old and has a slight heart murmur. He'd been in and out of the shelter several times, adopted out and returned each time by the same person, for stupid reasons. First reason was that he had a case of diarrhea, second time he was returned was due to the vet finding the heart murmur, and the last "reason" was due to his age.

I had already decided that age didn't matter, I just wanted to find a good cat to give a good home to. And the heart murmur is just something to be aware of and to have the vet check on the cat's normal checkups. Nothing special.

So, I filled out the adoption paperwork, paid the adoption fee, and we headed home. We stopped at my folks' house to show dad his new "grandson." The cat wandered around the house, not even phased by my folks' 4 dogs barking up a storm.

At one point, when I picked him up, he did something that, if my heart hadn't of been already set on him living out his remaining years with me, it would have been right then, no matter what.

See, when Scotch was still alive and I would pick him up, if I happened to be wearing a ball cap, Scotch would reach up, pull the brim of the hat down with his paw and rub his head up against it. Well, this cat did the same exact thing. I thought to myself that Scotch must approve of my new family member. My folks said that when he did that, you could see it on my face (never mind that I teared up a little bit) that this cat had gotten me hook, line, and sinker.

I loaded him back up in the carrier and brought him home. My other two cats aren't really happy right now, but the most they're doing is growling if he comes near them. He isn't even bothered by it. I think he's been around shelters long enough that other cats don't even bother him. While I still had him in the carrier, I brought the dogs out one at a time, and other than a little hissing (mainly because he was trapped in the carrier, it hasn't happened since), he was good. The dogs didn't like the hissing because they are keeping their distance for now, which is fine.

I have re-named him Mongo, after Alex Karras' character in Blazing Saddles. I have a little bit of a theme with naming cats after things in Mel Brooks' movies (one of my other cats is named Abby Normal).
Unknown "puppy love" Calm - 16 years, 5 months, 4 days ago