We brought home our new kitty today!

I am so sorry to be posting my homecoming thread on the same day as Natalie_ca is posting about her new little ones coming home, but today is a day of giving homes to kitties!! I think we should all celebrate!

So we went to the shelter, the place was packed, I hope they adopt out a lot of animals today! There's a lady who's been at the SPCA for about a year and a half and loved Sara Sue, and she was glad we came today to pick her up instead of taking her yesterday, so her 3 year old daughter could say goodbye. Too sweet. She even gave me her email address to send pics and updates. Anyway, BF filled out the paperwork (Genever was 'mine', so he wanted this one to be 'his'), and she already had a microchip so we just went with one of the staff people to the cat colony so he could put her in the carrier. Well, 2 big boys tried to get in the carrier right away, and Sara didn't want to go in. I wished we could've taken them all!

I drove, BF held the carrier. Only 3 meows on the car ride home, but she did pant a bit. I think she was just scared, understandably. We put the carrier down in the living room to let Genever check her out. She sniffed a bit, walked away, sniffed some more, kind of like "Yeah? So?" No poofing up, no hissing or growling by either cat. Nice! If new cat is as laid back and awesome as Genever, then I think we really hit the jackpot.

We took the carrier and let her out in the bathroom, she walked in the litterbox, scratched a bit and walked out. Then she sniffed food and water. We gave her head scritches which she seemed to love, she was purring a lot. Then she started to chow down. I gave her maybe a little over 1/2 cup of dry food, and she's already eaten most of it in the past hour and a half. I really hope she won't be eating both her and Genever's food. I may have to post about feeding arrangements.. Anyway, BF can't stay away, so he went back in there and tried to play with a wand toy for a bit. She seems so calm and pretty laid back. Not acting nervous.

In another hour or 2, per advice from G's Uncle Scott's aunt who was a vet tech most her life, we're going to put Genever in the spare/litterbox room, and let the new cat out to explore the house and find hiding spots and what not for an hour or 2. Then back in the bathroom and G-cat can come out again. We still have our vet appointment for Monday afternoon for new cat, and I need some MEGA vibes that she will not have giardia. I can't deal with that again; if she has it, she will be living in the bathroom until she doesn't have it.

So, I might go in the bathroom soon with a camera and see what I can come up with, so I can show off Genever's new big sister cat!

No name yet. We went out to a local brewpub last night with 'Uncle' Scott to celebrate and we were all trying to come up with orangey names. BF kept saying Billy/Billie after the English (Leeds) soccer player Billy Bremner. Nah. I was trying to think of Rainbow Brite people, but the orange one was La La Orange, I think. Well that's just La La LAME! We were getting a little silly with potential names.. Cheddar , Marigold (we know a guy nicknamed Marigold. So that is OUT.) Geri, as in tangerine, but then I somehow remembered that Ginger Spice's name is Geri. No thank you!

I forget what else we came up with. I like people names. I guess Genever is a liquor name, but it SOUNDS like a people name. Jennifer but with a V. So maybe another boozy name might work? Curacao, Grand Marnier, Cointreau.. haha. We'll see. I'll let you know, don't worry.

There's some hissing and growing on Genever's part through the bathroom door..... I hope she'll be better when they can meet/see each other in the same room, hopefully on Tuesday when we'll get the poop test results. (come on... no giardia!!)

Thanks again for the congrats and well wishes. We are 99% sure her name is Dorothy. We can call her Dot or Dottie (Hope your Dottie doesn't mind, Mike!) for short.

She is 5 years old per the shelter vet records (brought in as a stray). And she had a stinky poo last night, and kinda soft but not runny. Could be nerves? Sigh. I'm still afraid of giardia though. BUT... she was meowing so much and scratching at the door that we just gave in and let her out, and closed the spare room door with Genever's litterbox so it wouldn't get contaminated, and made sure G didn't go in new cat's box.

She drank a ton of water too. I hope it doesn't mean hyperthyroid or diabetes or anything like that.. Fingers crossed.

Lots of hissing and growling on Genever's part, but I think she's all talk. At one point she was growling WHILE taking a treat from me. So I don't think she's really that upset. Just kind of telling Dorothy "This is MY house. I am the boss here." I hope it will pass soon anyway.

So, we went to bed late, around 12:30am, and Dorothy was just so loud and wanting out of the bathroom. I let her out, put Genever in the bedroom. Went back to bed. She came up on the bed, but i didn't let her nder the covers, for pets and purred so loud. (if giardia is that contagious, well, oh well.) Not long after I put her back in the bathroom, let Genever out. not long after, the loud meowing and scratching started again, so I let them both be out and I resigned myself to the sofa to try to keep watch as best i could with the litterboxes. Occasionally put on cat away, then the other, then both out eventually. Genever was on the sofa with me most ofthe night, hissing whenever Dorothy walked by.

So I felt like crud this morning, getting maybe 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep. This is why I DID NOT want a kitten, I like to sleep at night! It will get better once we can let them out together all the time.

So Dorothy is out now, I think she's under the bed actually. I am afraid of giardia, but I just can't keep her locked up all day and all night. Just isn't happening.

So any continued vibes for no parasites would be appreciated. Thanks!

Oh, I don't know. All I know is she is up to date on shots, and had a flea treatment when she was impounded in May. I'm sure the vet will give us lots of goodies tomorrow to kill things, and that the free initial vet exam won't be free at all... And I know how horrible giardia is, cos Genever had it, plus reading about Bear in the Health Forum... but I just can't keep her locked away! I'm also going to call the vet early in the morning to see if i can get in before 3:15 tomorrow. I made it late because I was thinking I was getting the other cat who had to be spayed and I'd pick her up tomorrow. Not no more!! We gots our kitty!!!

By the way, Genever was sleeping on the ikea chair, and Dorothy jumped on the foot rest thingy for it, they're only about a foot apart right now. Genever just looked up, then went back to sleep! Last night that happened and she growled and hissed. They're both sleeping now, about 2 feet away from each other!

Well Genever had giardia from the shelter when we got her 2 years ago. And sometimes when I've visited the shelter to browse the kitties, the cat colony rooms are pretty stinky if someone just went. So I am just assuming that all the shelter kitties in the cat colonies potentially have it.