For awhile now, I've wanted 3 cats in the house. Katina has lived with my in-laws, quite happily. Nero & Hoshi are getting along great (got Hoshi in March '09). I was at the SPCA registering to get one of our ferals fixed when I saw the most adorable, crazy black male cat in one of the cages. I was taken. Rob had asked me earlier in the week what I would do if he gave me a cat for Xmas, and I said "be quite ecstatic"
He told me he of course was kidding. After seeing this black cat (named Jim Bob at the time, eek!), I kept dropping hints about getting another cat, & asking Hoshi & Nero if they wanted another brother.
Sunday night, Rob finally agreed
He told me his only conditions were that the cat was male, short haired, and black - fine by me! I have a severe soft spot for them. I especially enjoy giving them homes because it seems so few people want to - there's SO many black cats at that SPCA. [When we adopted Nero, there was a sign by his cage saying why black cats were great to adopt!].
I went to the shelter yesterday afternoon to play with him and give him the hand test (make sure he wouldn't snap at you if you touched him in certain places - he actually would get up and start rubbing me if I riled him up then tickled his stomach or grabbed around his tail!) His purr motor was in overdrive. Rob told me the decision was up to me if I wanted to bring him home that day, and he would know when he came home what I did. Of course, as soon as I hung up the phone I was at the desk ready to fill out the adoption form
They had just put him in with another adult male cat a few days ago and they had gotten along great, with no food aggression or real fighting.
Brought him home and put him in the weight room with a disposable litter pan, food and water, along with a new toy that looked similar to the one he was playing with at the shelter. He immediately hid under the weight stand in the corner, but as soon as I'd begin to pet him, he'd purr and come out and rub all over me. I left him alone for awhile, and Hoshi & Nero kept sticking their paws under the door to see who was in there. Hoshi had smelt the carrier when I brought Neko in, Nero couldn't have cared less about the box of cat! I let Rob pick out the name, and he picked Neko, since it was Japanese for cat (now we have 2 cats with Japanese names! And one Italian name).
This morning I checked on him in the room, he had eaten (and thrown up - apparently he isnt as easily adapted to the new type food so I may go buy a small bag of his shelter food to gradually mix in with the new food, or maybe stress is to be accounted for as well), as well as used his litter box. Yay! He was laying in the window when I came in - I think it's going to be one of his favorite spots. Rob went in and met him this morning (didn't want to overwhelm him last night), and he stayed in the window & loved all over Rob immediately
Tonight I'm going to swap the cats - put Hoshi & Nero in the room to smell, and let Neko explore the house a bit. I'm trying to do it the 'right' way this time - with Hoshi, I just put him in a room for an hour, introduced Nero, & let them do their thing - which is how my parents have always done it anyway with success.
Edit: Here's the shelter picture of him, I'll post up the ones I took when I get home tonight.
Sunday night, Rob finally agreed
I went to the shelter yesterday afternoon to play with him and give him the hand test (make sure he wouldn't snap at you if you touched him in certain places - he actually would get up and start rubbing me if I riled him up then tickled his stomach or grabbed around his tail!) His purr motor was in overdrive. Rob told me the decision was up to me if I wanted to bring him home that day, and he would know when he came home what I did. Of course, as soon as I hung up the phone I was at the desk ready to fill out the adoption form
Brought him home and put him in the weight room with a disposable litter pan, food and water, along with a new toy that looked similar to the one he was playing with at the shelter. He immediately hid under the weight stand in the corner, but as soon as I'd begin to pet him, he'd purr and come out and rub all over me. I left him alone for awhile, and Hoshi & Nero kept sticking their paws under the door to see who was in there. Hoshi had smelt the carrier when I brought Neko in, Nero couldn't have cared less about the box of cat! I let Rob pick out the name, and he picked Neko, since it was Japanese for cat (now we have 2 cats with Japanese names! And one Italian name).
This morning I checked on him in the room, he had eaten (and thrown up - apparently he isnt as easily adapted to the new type food so I may go buy a small bag of his shelter food to gradually mix in with the new food, or maybe stress is to be accounted for as well), as well as used his litter box. Yay! He was laying in the window when I came in - I think it's going to be one of his favorite spots. Rob went in and met him this morning (didn't want to overwhelm him last night), and he stayed in the window & loved all over Rob immediately
Tonight I'm going to swap the cats - put Hoshi & Nero in the room to smell, and let Neko explore the house a bit. I'm trying to do it the 'right' way this time - with Hoshi, I just put him in a room for an hour, introduced Nero, & let them do their thing - which is how my parents have always done it anyway with success.
Edit: Here's the shelter picture of him, I'll post up the ones I took when I get home tonight.
