Little Sister
So I know many some two or three of you have been following my family’s epic saga of the search for our gray tabby cat, Pete, with some interest, so I thought I would take a minute to update you today. Since there have been a couple of very recent developments in the story.
It’s now been exactly seven weeks since Pete disappeared from our backyard and broke our hearts. We were all seriously THAT in love with that cat. If it’s hard to imagine a family of six being so enamored with a pet, I get that. Really. Because we really aren’t ANIMAL FREAKS. We were just freaks about THIS ANIMAL. An excerpt from an earlier post I wrote about him might shed some light:
[Pete] is the most affectionate and human-oriented cat I’ve been around. Has been since day one. My cat-loving relatives try to take him home every time they’re over. (You know who you are. Stop it.)
These days, Katelynn mostly chases him and pulls his ears. Which he patiently endures most of the time.
Emma is his true love. I frequently find him curled up asleep in her lap. He runs to greet her when she comes home from school. And, he comforts her when she cries. Which is a LOT.
He can hear her crying from anywhere in the house. (We all can. She cries VERY LOUD.) He goes running to her and jumps up in her lap, pressing his nose against her cheek which always makes her laugh.
I think she is more his than he is hers.
And while seven weeks have passed, our efforts to find Pete haven’t diminished much. We still call animal rescues, search the classifieds and online pet locator sites, post signs, and visit shelters hoping to locate him.
During one of those shelter visits last week, Rob scanned the rows of cages and his eyes fell on a cat he thought at first glance was Pete. Heart pounding, Rob approached the cage to get a closer look at the cat and quickly realized that this one was too small to be our Pete. And too female.
The little girl cat perked up as Rob neared and stretched a paw through the wire mesh separating them to touch Rob’s hand. (Much the same way Pete had on the day we adopted him.) She was scheduled to be destroyed (hate that word) in a few days*. Rob wasn’t about to let that happen. She had Rob at hello.
He called me and explained that I needed to bring our Pet Taxi to the shelter because we were bringing Pete’s little sister home. And that was that.
Here she is, all 5.5 pounds of her, asleep in one of her favorite spots — my writing desk, next to my laptop:
- My blog obviously puts her right to sleep. She feels your pain.
We’ve yet to make a final decision on a name for her. Rob, Emma, and Katelynn are voting for “Bella”, Jenna likes “Trixie”, I say “Toonces” (which no one in this house is old enough to get (including Rob)), and Jake says “Cat-e”. Because Jake is fifteen-and-a-half and should really be re-named “Obnoxious” these days.
Oh! I almost forgot! I said there have been a couple of very recent developments, didn’t I? Well, I’ll have to save Development Number Two for tomorrow since Pete’s little sister is pawing at my arm and rubbing her cold wet little heart-shaped nose on my cheek. That’s our code for “Nap Time.”
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* Quick PSA here — if your family has room for a new furry member, please PLEASE PLEEEEASE consider adopting from your local animal shelter. They have all breeds, all colors, all kinds. And they all deserve a loving home. “Destroyed” is such an ugly ending for such a beautiful thing. Thanks.
