Fella

We lost our cat McKinley a couple of weeks ago. He had stopped eating and drinking, taking to hiding-totally unlike his personality. So...I had to admit that at 17 1/2, a 15yr diabetes insipidus patient and a 26 month oral cancer victim, his time had come. I had had him for 15 years.

The girls were trying to make 17 ½ yr old Hannah their snuggly kitty...she was not fond of the role.

So...since J and I are busy redoing her bedroom we decided on something special for S too – we decided S could get a cat of her very own. My girls have never had a young cat. My cats were both 10 ½ when J arrived and 13 + when S came along so this would be a pet that could truly belong to the girls.

We looked at several places at cats, S wasn’t told we would be getting one because I wanted to browse without a shopping mentality. We were very obviously leaning toward the tuxedo cats (black and white). Sunday the shelter we visited had only one B&W but several orange…We decided on a fuzzy laid back guy named Artie a beautiful boy with eyes that match his fur. He has a tail so large and fluffy J has wondered if he wasn’t part skunk – I am hoping not, but they are polecats, right? :-)

Here is a picture of S holding the fuzzy guy. Always the diva she is wearing a red polka-dotted cami (seen at her waistline) an orange shirt with a sunflower, a black polka-dotted skirt, a purple fuzzy main ponytail holder, an orange lesser pony tail holder and pink flip flops with white daisies. She picked out her own outfit and did her own hair – or could you have guessed that?

About his name…I told S that we didn’t have to keep the name Artie, we could pick what we wanted (he had been a stray so the name had only been attached to him for a few weeks). She picked Tyler because there were 2 Tylers in her class. I told her that didn’t seem like a good name as we were friends with a Tyler. She picked another classmate's name. I told S that she could think about it a bit and that name would be fine, but she could also pick something that didn’t belong to a person like our friend L had Pepper and Winkie, so she could choose something like Jellybean if she wanted.

In an inspired burst, S said “His name is going to be Fella” An enthusiastic second, “I like it!!” from J. So, Fella it is!

I have been told by a few people that Fella looks like a big cat. He doesn’t seem big. S can easily pick him up by herself and he weighs in at 10 pounds. Just for comparison here is a pic of the girls with another orange boy they looked at. Jax came from New Orleans. Prior to Gustav the shelters there were relocating animals in anticipation of needing their space for disaster pets – those misplaced in storm panics/storm damaged homes and fences…I love that cooperation and assistance can happen across the shelters…I remember from my early volunteer days how easy it is to say that there isn’t room to help…I digress… Easy to see once I looked at S and Jax, S and Fella don’t read ‘big cat’ to me.

Life with Fella has reminded me why I prefer dogs. It is that ‘cats live at multiple levels' thing - dogs generally stay on the floor but cats jump wherever they want. Fella can easily be located if you listen for crashes, he got sooty in the fireplace overnight and he must have cleared three surfaces RUNNING to where I was pouring food this morning. But the girls adore him and love that he can be carried or held whenever they want.

On Saturday the vet will get to meet Fella and we’ll see what he/she says about that tail.





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