I’m posting a day early this week because of my excitement.
Last Sunday night I had a dream that my cat Mac was still alive and playing with my other cats. They were frolicking with a cat from the shelter. Her name is Nakana, and I had fallen in love with her the first night we volunteered at the shelter. In my dream, Mac came up to Nakana and and wrapped one of his front legs around her, giving her a big bear hug.
I woke up ready to go pick up Nakana to give her a family (our family!). At PetSmart, where Nakana had languished without finding a home, they put up a sign. You can see her inside the blue box.
PetSmart is truly wonderful for the work they do for homeless animals. Look at how beautiful Nakana’s kennel was. But it wasn’t a home. She’s eight (eight!) years old, has been in the shelter since November, and she’s a pure black cat in a sea of homeless black cats.
Monday afternoon hubby and I brought her home with us. She’s my 60th birthday present, a little early!
And here she is:
And here we are:
OK, peeps, head on down to the nearest shelter and pick yourself out a sweet adult cat or dog (if you have the ability to do so).
I had a feeling this was the surprise you’d be revealing! Congratulations to both you and Nakana! (And happy birthday, too!)
Both of our boys came from a shelter area at a local Petsmart. They were kittens, but one of them they called demon cat because he growled and did not seem friendly at all. Who knows if he would have found a home if we hadn’t taken him in? He’s a sweetie now–although he has his little kitty issues. Haha. Our older daughter adopted two older brother cats from the same shelter (one has since died).
How are the other cats adjusting? I don’t think our two would welcome another.
I thought you might get it ;). That is what I often think about some of these animal situations: what if I or someone else had not? I don’t know if you have access to Facebook, but here is a story I read last night: https://www.facebook.com/AndMyCat/posts/1084572358221107. In case you can’t it’s about a street cat that had been abused and his leg had multiple breaks. A vet clinic fixed him and someone fostered him for a year, but he was scared and they gave up on him. Then someone took him in, although she had 2 elderly cats and thought they wouldn’t like it. of course, her elderly cats eventually died and she (not even sure if it’s a she) took in a foster litter of kittens. This street cat Benny took to them as if he were their mother! The person ended up keeping 2 of the kittens for Benny and they are all happy together. I’ve noticed that kittens can do that. We have a skittish cat at the shelter that might be so shy he never finds a home, but when we have kittens out roaming he comes right out and plays with them!
And I don’t know about my others yet. I’m keeping Nakana isolated in my beautiful, sunny office as long as she needs time to get comfy.
Good luck, Luanne! I will check out the FB post later. I’m supposed to be working right now. 🙂
Nakana has a beautiful face! Congratulations on your new family member!
When I’m running errands with my kids, we’ll sometimes stop in PetSmart to see the cats. But given husband’s allergies, we can only look and not take. But I wish I could have one in the home. 🙂
That must be heart-breaking! You are a nice wife keeping the husband ;). Bless PetSmart’s heart (hmm, can a corporation have a heart?) for doing this for the animals!
A gorgeous new member of your loving household! Congratulations, Luanne. 😸
Yes, she is gorgeous! Thank you so much, Mark! She is enjoying watching the bunnies that are all over hubby’s plants outside my office windows!
She’s beautiful…! 8 years, that’s a long time to wait for a family 🙂
Andy, I think she had a family before that gave her up. The seniors that are at the shelter have usually been abandoned by their owners when their owners lives take a change. So she was at the shelter for 8 months, just long enough that she had just started to give up hope. We could see it in her personality!
That’s really sad, I imagine there she was probably wondering what she did to be abandoned :O
I think they do wonder “why.” How can people do that? I can’t figure it out.
Me either, people tend to forget that it is a commitment.
So true.
Congratulations! I got one of my from an adoption at PetSmart. I cannot visit the cat area in our local store because…well…you know…I’d be that lady with 80 cats in her house. I don’t know what it is about black cats. They are just as wonderful as any other color. I always seem to have a black one in my group. Hope the assimilation into the pack goes easily. At 8 she deserves a wonderful forever home! I remember when I brought Morgan home from being caged for just 5 months. She was awed by all the room she had to explore.
Hahaha, I know just how you feel! I also wanted to bring home Abby, Slupe, Betty, and Theodore. However, I was lucky to get one by hubby and that was because I claimed her for my “big” birthday! I heard that we currently have to turn away black cats from the shelter. We are swarming with black kittens and young cats. Nakana was the only older one. But we need to find home for these guys before Halloween when we will have to temporarily shut down adoptions of black cats because there are too many people who are horrible. I’m sure Morgan was in awe!! I sort of wonder if Nakana used to be an indoor-outdoor cat because she is so interested in looking out all these windows. But she will be indoor only as all my cats are. We live in a place (Arizona) with many predators and dangers. As for my other cats: oy. I hope things go well. I plan to go very very slowly. I want her very familiar with us first and then I will put a gate at the door of the office, with a sheet over it, so they can check each other out slowly. I hope that works as it has in the past.
Good luck with the gate. I had Morgan in a bedroom for a week. I spent a lot of time with her and she was good, no crying at all. In fact she didn’t talk for the first 3 months. After a week, I put a high gate at the door. I walked down the steps only to find she had followed me. She jumped over or climbed the gate. Fortunately the only cat that wasn’t excited about her was Jake. He showed his displeasure by hissing at her and peeing outside the box. It took several months to get over it but it was a full year before he didn’t react to her at all. Of course she was young and kept trying to play with him. He still bops her head when she’s pesty.
Poor Jake. Morgan really upset his world. It does take a lot of patience with cats. Remind me of that down the road, please. I’m glad you gave them the time to “get along.” I know what you mean about the following. Nakana started following me within minutes. What we have done in the past is hang a sheet above the gate (makes them think it’s not possible to jump over) and it’s worked for every cat until my son did it with the new Ms (Precious) Lily who is too smart for her own good. TROUBLE. But where did it get her? A big cage smack in the middle of the living room so that everyone can watch TV in peace without her chasing poor Meesker.
I didn’t use a sheet so that could work. Could Ms Lily get through the fence?
Lily just knocked the fence right over. She’s a little terror. She was the sweetest thing at the shelter, but once she got her own home, she decided she would be EMPRESS. 😉 They call her Texas as a nickname because “everything on her is big,” but maybe they should call her something like Imelda or Evita.
Good to hear that there is one fewer unhappy cats out there. Ugh! What a sentence construction (one fewer unhappy cats). Is that how you say it? Well, you know what I mean.
I do know what you mean, and that is how I think. Every unhappy cat who gets a chance at a happy life makes the angels clap and smile.
If only we could save them all.
Oh, that is a pipe dream of mine!
Congrats–she’s adorable.
Isn’t she?!!! Thank you on her behalf!
What a happy surprise! I wasn’t clever enough to guess…that kind of made me glad in a “Chicken Soup” sort of way <3
Oh, that’s funny. I thought it might be guessable! Chicken Soup way, I’m chuckling. It would be wonderful to live in a Chicken Soup world.
I knew you’d get another cat! You crazy cat lady! Just kidding! xoxo She’s pretty, just like her new mommy. You look to young for 60! Happy Early Birthday, Luanne.
Aw, you’re too kind, Jill!!! (and lying) But maybe I am crazy. I told my mother, “You’ll think I’m crazy, but I got another cat.” She said, “I knew you would! Tell me about the new addition to our family!” Thank you for the birthday wishes!
I don’t lie…it makes my neck turn red. 🙂
My neck turns red no matter what I do!
Congratulation to your family gaining a new member. She’s a lovely creature. And happy early birthday!!
Thanks, WJ! She’s so beautiful. She’s also a very large cat. I think she’s even longer and larger than Felix. Plus she has a medium coat, not short hair, so that gives her the sense of being even larger. You can’t get a sense of her size from the photos I’ve taken of her. Hmm, thanks re the birthday. I guess.
Lucky Nakana, Lucky you. xo
Thanks, Pam! It’s so true–lucky me–I feel so blessed to have Nakana!
Oh Luanne, from one crazy cat lady to another (and I mean that in the best possible terms, ha!) I’m beyond excited and thrilled for you! Nakana is absolutely beautiful. I adore black cats…why are people so superstitious about them? I think they are just gorgeous, we’ve had four – my first as a teenager, Blackie (orignial name that don’t you think?), Zippa (my son named her from the stories Montgomery Moose and the Get Along Gang), Willow, our Queen for 14 years, and now Eddie our handsome, amazing 9 year old. I had a tear over your dream about darling Mac…you really got me with that. I can’t get over it…This is such a wonderful post and I want to squeeze you with such a huge hug and then pet Nakana 😀 And wishing you a very Happy Early Birthday! xoxo
Oh, I love their names. I’m so glad you love black cats. They get such a bad rap and have such wonderful personalities! You would love to pet Nakana. She is such a sweetheart with a very strong and nice personality. All the volunteers loved her, too. Hah, thank you on the birthday wishes. I am not looking forward to that birthday!
I would love to pet her and wish I could! Have a lovely furry, purry weekend with your new sweeheart Luanne 🙂 xoxo
Oh, she’s such a darling!
An early Happy Birthday to you, Luanne! And you gave yourself the best present ever … a cat 🙂 Nakana is beautiful! And I am so happy that you pick one whose odds were sinking rapidly. I love kittens, but my heart always goes to the older adults. I’ve never adopted from PetSmart. I don’t have to. Cats just show up at my door. Well, except for Wendy who I rescued from a Wendy’s outside Macon, Georgia 🙂 Enjoy your new friend. Good idea keeping her isolated for now. Be sure to let your other cats smell her scent on you. It’ll help acclimate them.
Oh, I am so glad it was you that found Wendy!! Yes, my other cats have all been finds, but this time I “found” Nakana while I was volunteering at the shelter haha. I looked back and I’ve written about her 3x before! Yes, I feel bad about the “seniors” and often they have some kind of problem that leads to them living in a cage, which is a double problem. Today I took Nakana to the vet with one of my other cats. They didn’t interact, but they were able see each other the kennels and to smell each other. They were ok. I realized that my 2 younger cats hadn’t had checkups in ages because of Mac being sick for so long. Sigh. More vet bills.
Ah, yes, the ever present vet bills, especially when you have more than one cat. They may not need you to pay college tuition but they still rack up the bills 😉
Nakana is absolutely beautiful and a wonderful new member of your family. Well done, Luanne xxxxx
Thanks, Dianne. She is a really special cat. I’m so happy to have her here!
Congratulations on the new addition to your family! I’d love to adopt another cat, but we might leave the state next summer. We have just our one cat, Firefly, now, and she’ll remain an only cat until we figure out what we’re doing.
Thanks, Robyn. She’s really a dear girl. You will get one as soon as you can, I’m sure! Firefly is a cute name. I really like that. It’s so different.
Oh she’s beautiful Luanne and it’s wonderful to feel that Mac was encouraging you to bring her home.
The dream was so powerful and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I woke up. He looked so good in the dream sigh.
It’s bittersweet when you dream about a loved one you’ve lost.
Wow – I don’t think I’ve ever had 60 birthday presents 🙂
Oh no, a grammar mayor! Hah, well, maybe not in one year, but certainly over a lifetime!
I just knew you would come back with the lifetime one 🙂
You set yourself up for that!
🙂
Happy Birthday
Thanks, Derrick! I’m not thrilled with it, but it’s so much better than the alternative!
It sure is
Luanne, I wish you a happy birthday and hopefully your new cat will blend in well. You are so kind to adopt an old cat.
Paul, thank you so much! I hope so, too. We are going to take it very slow and patiently to give them the best chance at getting along well. I wouldn’t give her back anyway ;).
Luanne she is a beautiful and lucky kitty to have you as her owner. I could think of nothing sweeter for a birthday present. Loved hearing about your dream too.
Kath, thank you so much. The dream gave me such a warm, happy feeling. Nakana is a darling. She’s a really neat cat–sweet and good natured and yet curious and fun.
i bet she loves her new home too.
I hope so! She has a lovely bedroom with windows and bunnies to watch and toys and soft blankets and hiding places and pets and kisses.
I really want to get a second kitty, but since we already have two dogs and one cat mu husband is not on board with the idea. She’s a cutie!
Wait until your husband does something really stupid and then tell him it’s fine, especially if you have another kitty to make you feel better ;). Yup, emotional blackmail. I love it.
She is beautiful. And being led to her by Mac. 🙂
She is so beautiful! Although her coloring is so different from Mac’s (since he was orange and white tabby), there are things about her that remind me a little of Mac. I can see why he would tell me to take her into the family.
You will be happy to know we have a cat presence at Casa de Canterbury – well, we don’t really have it – it has us! For the past week or so, a black cat and a grey cat greet us at night when we pull into our driveway. Sometimes it’s the black one – sometimes it’s the gray one. We haven’t fed either one – they look healthy. Yet they apparently have decided to visit regularly- needless to say, it drives all THREE of our dogs mad when they see one in the yard so I’m not sure how long they’ll be around. Will keep you posted.
So you are about to enter Club 60 – good for you! I will share your membership for another year and then will move on to the next club! Happy, Happy Birthday!!
Are they still around? They are probably curious about the dogs–or want to drive them crazy! Thank you, Sheila!