Hi everybody! I just registered due to the adoption of my six-week old kitten, Mocha, the other day. She was found as a stray under one of the houses at my alma mater, apparently abandoned by her mother. (I have a feeling there may have been a bit more human intervention there, but either way she's better off in than out!) The girls living there had an ambiguous idea to make her a "House Cat," living there during the school year (against policy) and going home with...somebody...while they were on break. This half-baked plan went down the tubes when it came time to figure out who pays the vet bills, at which point they told my girlfriend (who lives there) to tell me (I've been off in the "real world" for a couple of years now) that she needed a home. So...VERY long story short...she came home on Monday and has been adjusting to her new surroundings ever since. She's a beautiful kitten, and seems to be extremely good natured. We need to learn not to teethe on fingers or use our claws for the wrong things, but hopefully I will find good advice about those and other issues here.
About the new "dad": Except for one cat that I was too young to remember, I only had a dog growing up. I have known and enjoyed the company of many, many cats along the way, but never one of my own. The biggest adjustment that I will have to make is getting away from the dog-owning mentality and into the cat-owning mentality, which seem to be very different. For example, I would never own a dog right now for fear that it would go insane being left alone for the 9 hours a day that I'm away at work. Accepting that cats generally (with the proper adjustment) are perfectly fine with this has taken me a very long time to accept. I just don't want a pet to be in a situation she hates, you know?
Anyway, that was an awfully long introduction. "Mo" says thanks in advance for teaching the stupid human to raise a cat properly!
Tim
About the new "dad": Except for one cat that I was too young to remember, I only had a dog growing up. I have known and enjoyed the company of many, many cats along the way, but never one of my own. The biggest adjustment that I will have to make is getting away from the dog-owning mentality and into the cat-owning mentality, which seem to be very different. For example, I would never own a dog right now for fear that it would go insane being left alone for the 9 hours a day that I'm away at work. Accepting that cats generally (with the proper adjustment) are perfectly fine with this has taken me a very long time to accept. I just don't want a pet to be in a situation she hates, you know?
Anyway, that was an awfully long introduction. "Mo" says thanks in advance for teaching the stupid human to raise a cat properly!
Tim