Crazy Cat Lady

I'm destined to become a crazy cat lady. I'm on my way to spinsterhood and I love cats, so really, there's not much I can do about it. I accept my fate.

I get love from Sara's cats, Kitty and Tanner, whom I watch whenever she and Jason go on vacation (which is luckily a couple times a year). And I just spent almost two weeks taking care of Matt's girls, Sentry and Meekah, spending almost 3 hours a night with them; not so much because they needed the attention, but because I did. Now that I own my own home and I'm mostly settled in, it's time for me to be a kitty owner again!

I had the best cat ever in Hobo Kitty about 4 years ago; he was a neighborhood cat that stayed with me most the week. But it turned out he had owners (he was an outdoor cat for them) and they took him away when they moved. I miss that cat.

Hobo Kitty cuteness overload

So I've begun my quest for a new cat. Except I've been convinced I should get two so they can keep each other company while I'm not home. Looking for two cats is hard! It's literally been as much effort and consideration as looking for my first house.

With one cat, you just hang out with all the cats and see which one you like best. But a bonded pair of cats is harder to come by and then you have two personalities to deal with (I've been encountering a lot with one really shy one in the pair or they're cats over 8 years old). It would be easier if I wanted to get some 8 week old kittens from the same litter because there are tons of those around. But I'm looking for cats that are at least a year old.

I went in to this not wanting kittens. But then of course I went over to a foster cat lady's house two weeks ago to meet a 3 year old bonded pair of black cats, Miranda and Stu, and they shared their room with an adorable 6 month old kitten. So now I'm sort of thinking MAYBE and older kitten would be okay... mostly because they'll bond to me quicker than older cats.

But unless some amazing pair shows up on craigslist this week, I think I'm going to adopt Boo (gray with green-yellow eyes, although they call her blue) and Jackson (white and orange calico, although they call it red and white) from the Humane Society off Morena Blvd.

I saw them for the first time about a month ago, but they were stressed out because they had just been put in a new room with a lot of cats. So I went back a couple weeks later to see if they were settled in yet and they seemed pretty cool. Boo is a bit more timid and shy but I think it's because she hates being a room with 10 other cats. Jackson doesn't seem to mind and just mills about and likes to be pet.

I went back this weekend to visit them again, and now Boo was out and about in the room and looked more comfortable, although she'd swat at any cats other than Jackson who got too close to her. I spent a lot of time observing them both from the window and saw their personalities more. Boo will run up to the volunteers when they come in, I assume because she recognizes them, and Jackson was really friendly and cute with anyone. Especially boys. When I finally went in the room, Boo and I had a good petting session on the bench and Jackson crawled into my lap at the same time so I had then both. Jackson really likes to play too, so we played for a while. It's fun watching cats eyes dilate and get super big/black when they're stimulated.

I asked one of the volunteers if they were still pretty bonded to each other since they've been in since July and I was concerned they may have lost their bond since they've been sharing a room with so many cats. She said yes they're still very bonded. They sleep together in the chair and groom each other and will share a lap for pets. I guess they even tried separating them at one point (it's hard to adopt out a pair of cats) but Boo is really attached to Jackson and didn't do well, so they put them back together.

Stay tuned; if I decide to make the leap with this cute pair, it'll be next weekend. Here are some terrible profiles of Boo and Jackson on Petfinder.com; most other oganizations who post animals on this site include nice bios that actually tell you about the animal's personality and better pictures.