If one cat is good................

So listen, you have all met Boo Boo Marie:

Well, when we got her from the SPCA , she came from a home with three cats, and she was a lively little thing, climbing, jumping, all that energetic stuff. I am not saying all of it was good-a cat jumping from a high place onto you is not necessarily a thing to be desired. But then she started sleeping all day-not interested in playing too much. Eat and sleep.

SOOOOOOOOOO, I thought, maybe she needs a playmate, she misses her previous cat family. SHusband was on board, I mean after you buy the food and litter, one more cat is not too much more work. (Remind me of that phrase later SFriends.)

So, we went online to the same SPCA site and found this sweet lap cat, 8years old,male, neutered, declawed and very friendly-it said.

The next day I called to speak to the man (Michael) who had Cody at his store as an off-site adoption location. He loooooved this cat, cat got along great with the other 5 cats which he kept at the store, blah, blah, all good. You can tell that he sincerely like Cody. I called SPCA, since we had gotten BOO BOO Marie recently, we did not need to reapply-I just had to give my drivers license #??? OK???. I went to pick him up that afternoon.

The location was down/up(?) on Elmwood Ave in Buffalo-I am familiar with that area, having lived on that same street-but down a zillion miles and a lifetime away, and also having worked downtown on and off during my work life. And, I used my GPS-always have plan B ready.

I was so excited to be there, I noticed a parking meter-a
bizillion years since I used one of those-what fun! I could pretend that I was a sophiscated uptowner just doing my daily stuff, poppin' coins in the meter. How pathetic am I?? Don't answer.

I did not want to carry the empty cat carrier, my purse (new-very large but so adorable) and a small mum plant for Michael, so I left it all in the car and put the money in the meters. Then I opened the door, then I tried to open the door, then I nearly peeshawed my mudonies-I locked the car with the keys, the phone, the emergency spare key, all inside. You know how old I am, but really this is the first time in my life that I have locked my keys inside. One time, around 30 years ago, my car key fell off my key chain somehow, so after that I kept a spare key in my wallet-no help today however.
So, I had to walk into this store and look like a responsible person who should be given this *&*^& cat, and oh, by the way, I locked everything in the car, would you mind calling AAA for me?

Michael could not have been nicer, in the middle of doing business he stopped and took care of it for me. They came in about 20 minutes, and this 12 year old popped the door in less than 5 minutes. I kept repeating to him that I never did this before, so he wouldn't think that I was an addled old lady who should not be on the road, and take away her license, and her AAA membership and put her away someplace to watch soap operas all day. He kept nodding his head and smiling-a polite young man.

So, after I proved to Michael that I was who I said I was-I guessed the reason for the drivers lis # is to make sure I was not someone who has been known to sell cats for experiments, etc (a multiple cat adoption rule maybe?), he and his sweet assistant packed up Cody. This lady was very fond of Cody and was saying soft things in his ear. Michael carried him out to the car, I gave him the thank you fall Mum and we were on our way home. He talked to me the whole way, I called SSon to have him hear Cody talking and that he was on the way, so SS would see him when he got home.

I came in the house with this verrry heavy cat in the box-no wonder Michael carried him for me-what a kind man. I opened the box to show Boo BOO Marie, and she went nuts-hissing, baring her teeth. Oh crap.

Cody slinked away and hid, coming out periodically to find food and water and jump on SH's lap-this is day one,

but whenever BBM saw him, she repeated her previous welcome to him.

This went on for days, one time she jumped on our bed-formerly her bed before HE came, but now the only place C spent his time if not under the bed. When she was just getting comfy on her blanket-she noticed him! Hissing, etc started. What a pain in the coulou she was being.
See her spinning when she noticed him near the pillows-a true action shot:

This went one for three days, then BBM went for her routine checkup at the Vets-and had the bjesus scared out of her by the BIG dogs. She became very quiet and docile, even when I brought her home. AND, C saw his opening. Now, he is the snarly one, and she is slinking away. This went on for two days, and she decided that she had enough, so now they are each fighting for territory dominance. No they do not keep each other company, no they do not play together, no they are not BUDS. They will occasionally have a truce and sit near each other.

But most times, they hate each other. They have not made contact, just some horrible screeches and showing of teeth and swipes in the air with their missing claws. Sigh.

Last night, C was sleeping on my feet, and around 5am, BBM jumped up on the bed-C stood up slightly, and then just laid back down, sleep winning over war.

BBM then settled down on my back until I got up a few hours later. I was so happy, maybe the wars were over? I fed them, putting a little aside for him to eat in a different area since today they both wanted to eat at once. All was serene. Then, while I was reading the morning paper, it all ended. He HAD to sit on the end of the couch where she was-jiminees, we have this huge couch-room for 50 cats, I coaxed him to come sit near me for a millisecond, but then he just walked away in disgust. They are spending the day stalking each other, never approving of where the other one is, BUT WAIT, there is good news-today, they both used the cat door that we have had for 2 weeks and needed to prop open because the two nitwits were too lazy to push the plastic door open. We tried putting them through, giving them treats, you name it. I was just whining about it to my SFriend this morning, that it seems a waste of money, then when I got home, they each came through-I think BBM shamed C into doing it. Whateva! They are using it.

So, all in all, our so affectionate lap/chest cat,

who we also found out is a neck cat-here with SDaughter,

is deciding what role he will have, beside being the sweetie little lap cat that he is and our sweet little quiet fur ball
is deciding how she can kill him-without actually touching him. So, she is more active, and so are we-chasing them to their corners.

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty:

No, not that Hello Kitty, that is the one we are donating to our club raffle this weekend, Say "Hello Kitty" to this one: Yes, she is new to us, her name is Boo Boo Marie (she came with Boo, but I need a few syllables to call a pet, Like Lassie, not Lass, how can you stretch out just plain one syllable names when you are calling a little pet?).

Isn't she cute? Her online picture from the SPCA site had her looking really blue,

she very rarely looks blue-a certain light, just a hint, but mostly not.

So listen, here is her story. I was in a pet store, buying bird seed for SMe and SMom, never looked in the off-site SPCA adoption pens, except that day, inside was this little animal, looking like all eyes, and so sad. I bought my supplies, and kept walking around back to her. When I got home, I told SHusband that I came this close [ ] to calling him about this cat that was up adoption, he immediately said that he wished I would have. We both must have been feeling the ache of no pet since we lost our Cheesie Marie. Didn't think we would ever get another one because it hurt so much to lose her, but I guess, we are what we are eh? I went online, showed him the picture, and that was it. Heart strings were pulled by us through to her on the screen and back. Next day, they reviewed our online lengthy (but really, that is necessary to help get a good placement) adoption application and got approved!! Off we went before the other couple that applied made their phone call to check on the status, and tried to get her before us-the legal new family! I didn't even pour my newly perked, excuse me, showing my age, newly "brewed-dripped out" coffee into a travel mug, just grabbed the ceramic mug with "I Love you MOM" stenciled in gold, gift from SDaughter and off I went. Side note: I had that mug for about 10 years, but did not want to use it because I did not want to break such a special mug-but heck, when I am dead, she will get it back anyway, so I don't want her to think her gift was not appreciated, so I use it daily now!

Back to the original post, thanks for being patient. Because the cat was 6 years old, the adoption fee was waived, but really, what a bargain, spayed, micro chipped, up to date on all shots, litter trained, and adorable. Of course, we needed to purchase the CAT STUFF, but that is what was needed. Poor Kitty meowed all the way home, I talked to her so she would become familiar with my voice, and I told her about everyone she would be living with now. I kinda broke the news that were were doggie-sitting for our SDoggie friend, and that he was a really nice guy, but a tad curious.

We lugged in all her stuff-I thought I would die carrying in that new-fangeled litter that is great for the environment, but bad for the human needing to carry the bag, esp one with an old, bad back! I paid for that all night, but it is what it is. I used SHusbands wheelchair lift instead of the stairs, so that worked out OK for part of the delivery.

So then, when all supplies were inside, I took SNewCat from the transport box and gently held her and introduced her to SVisitingDog, he came over to smell her, and she reared up like a Halloween Cat and made herself look twice her size and hissed! She soon figured out that she was a tad aggressive, he is only curious, so all is well-relatively well actually, until the first time we fed her "wet" food-it seems that is something that SDog thought for sure he should have too. He got really agitated, no doggie treat or toy helped, no soothing talk, no head rubbing, and we ended up putting him outside to calm down, good thing he loves the outdoors. So, now we learned how to go around this problem while he is still here, her feeding time is when he is out in the morning. No tempting him unfairly, she eats without him growling at her, No problems.

Well, no problem, except for the fact that she was missing for 5 hours yesterday! It was thought that she slipped out the front door, so we rode around, walked around, sent her picture via e-mail to neighbors, prayed, swore , etc, etc. Finally we gave up looking in every nook and cranny and just wondered what we should do next. SSon had walked around all the buildings on our property twice, he was really stressed with us. She had a reflective leash with her new name and address on a tag, and also a tag with her microchip number and contact number-all updated with our info-but that all needs someone to FIND HER FIRST. It was only 36 degrees here yesterday-in the sun I might add, so I was really worried about her, she had never been outside here, so had not been able to "lay a scent trail" back here, in case she ever snuck out, and oh by the way, we live in the country, woods all over, animals all over that could be a threat to her. I was really upset. We were all really upset. Then SGrandson, who was here for the weekend went onto our bed to watch some TV, and guess what, she was under the covers of our made bed! How the heck did she get there? We were so happy to see her, but really amazed at her hiding spot.

Today, I had some places to drive to in the morning, got home, happened to look at our bed, and what did I see?

Do you see?

How about now? That little lump above the green pillow?

Yep, after SH made the bed, she went undercover-in every aspect of that term. Now we know that yesterday's hiding was not a fluke, and this will be SOP for her rest time.

And here is a picture of where she sleeps when not prowling, from the first night onward:

And I wish you could hear her purr, at times, it is louder than the soft music that we have playing when we first go to bed.

So, all is content here, new and visiting members of the family. Oh wait, did I tell you she jumped onto the covered birdcage in the middle of the first night? Since they were all covered and sleeping, I think she was just exploring, rather than hunting, but try explaining that to 4 parakeets, lots of loud chirping for a bit. And then, after my heart stopped racing as it does when you jump out of bed expecting to see God only knows what, we all went back to sleep.

And now as we all get used to our new and changed environment, and sleeping happens, most times all night. Good night SReaders, thanks for stopping by our little animal kingdom.