Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Cat Brag

I judge me for my lack of blog updates. Eventually I'll stop having to apologize for my not keeping up on a timely basis. But, until that day arrives, I'm sooooooooorry!

I got a cat! An adorable, handsome, cutestlittlethingyou'veeverseenthatyouwannaeathisface cat!

Everyone, this is Beau.

Couldn't you just die? Ugh. I die so hard.

I had been considering getting a cat for a while but I was hesitating because of a few reasons:

1. I was worried about still being able to have a social life
2. Money
3. Caring for another living thing

The biggest thing holding me back was my dog, Sophie, whom I had while I was briefly living in North Carolina. I was unable to bring her with me back to Maryland and that devastated me. But, she went to a really great home and I still miss her. It's a pretty safe bet that I have some residual guilt from that situation. But, I the past is the past and the future is best, right?

Right!

So a few weeks back, I was on FB and a friend of mine had shared a "Second Chance" post for a cat named Ziggy at BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue Care Services). And I gotta tell ya, whoever writes their posts must have taken some SERIOUS creative writing classes because his description tugged my heart strings right to the shelter. I had to see the little guy and maybe save him from his cage.

I get there, visit Ziggy and he was just terrified. He was curled up all the way in the corner of his cage and was very leery of my presence. After a little time he let me pet him but that's it. We didn't really connect and my hand was COVERED in black hair. I have all carpet in my apartment and that really wouldn't have been ideal. I felt bad, but, I decided to browse. I met another kitty named Fancy Kitty and she was a talker. She meowed the whole time and basically laid her head in my hand. I liked her but I asked the girl to show me some of her favorites. She goes "Umm...." and kind of scanned some of the cages in the room we were in and she pointed to a cage with a cat named Tiger McLamb.

That's right, Tiger McLamb.

Mr. McLamb was taking a little nap, but, when he realized we were there to visit, he calmly got up and waited for the cage to open. The girl helping me picked him up and he immediately perched on her shoulders. She was telling me how calm he was and she always felt it was a good sign if they perched on you like he was. So, she passed him over to me and he immediately laid on my shoulder and purred. He was completely content and didn't want to get down.

"Uh-oh..." I thought. I knew I was in trouble.

I started to shift to put him back down and he wrapped himself around the back of my neck, almost like he was hugging me to say, "No. I want to stay".

I died.

I tried to stay as detached as possible. I hadn't 100% made up my mind yet about committing to getting a cat. But I knew I REALLY liked him. It actually turned out well for me because it was too late to adopt him that day. But I wouldn't have any way. I told the girl I wanted to go home and think about everything before I adopted him. So, she kindly put a 24 hour hold on him for me.

I went back and forth about it the rest of the night and all next day. I literally hadn't made up my mind until I walked into the shelter. Could I handle the commitment? Did I want the responsibility? What would I do if I had to go away? Luckily I have wonderful friends who helped me argue both sides. My personal favorite was my dad's response, "Kid 18 years, Cat 15 years. Get a Furby". BARCS definitely made sure this is really what I wanted- I had to wait for 2 hours to get Beau, formally Tiger McLamb. They were busy, then they had to get him ready, then we had to have a cat class, it was pretty legit. But, I stuck it out. I wanted my little man; My Beau. And I got him :-)

Right out of the box

I didn't make a sound in the box as we were driving home. I thought that was pretty amazing. And when I took him out, he immediately was all over me. He climbed up and he put himself on my shoulder like a little baby. I was hooked.

He is wonderful. He makes me want to come home at the end of the day and spend time at home. Actually, he's made this apartment really feel like a home.

Don't get me wrong, he still has the Cat-itude when he feels like copping one, but, he is still really mellow and loving. And funny! Boy, he cracks me up.

Let me tell ya 'bout muh best frand!




ugh. i can't.


"Kitty Dans la Ville"


I'm officially at Cat Lady status. But, can you blame me? He's so photogenic and awesome!

Ugh. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.