Bastet's Promise -- New kitty adoption!

[Demeter]

Some time ago, when my husband and I were in the throes of looking for a new house, I made a promise to the Goddess Bast (aka Bastet) that when we got the house, we would adopt a cat. Shortly afterwards, we entered contract on a house. Shortly after that, we adopted our third cat, Coco Chanel, but there were snags in the sale and it was some months before we actually closed. We got into the house last week; the cats are still not moved over.

Last night, in the middle of the night, I heard a cat crying. This morning, as my husband and I were leaving to go to the train station, I heard a pathetic meowing. Crouched in the outside recess of a neighbor's basement window was a small long haired orange tabby cat, crying piteously. He came right up to me and rubbed against my legs. When I picked him up, he didn't struggle at all. I think he had a home once, and was used to people handling him, but he was not wearing a collar (though we will have to find out if he's got a microchip). Maybe he escaped, or maybe somebody abandoned him. I felt his little ribs, and nasty mats in his fur. He's only about half-grown. My DH looked at me, and I looked at him, and we tucked the kitty into the basement of our house. Then DH took me to the train station and stopped off at the store on the way back to pick up some food. The little beggar tore into it, I am told, like eating had gone out of style.

So we have adopted him. We made a promise to Bast, and She provided a sweet little orphan. He will be named Bastet's Promise.

I have made a vet's appointment for Saturday (I got a Saturday appointment!!! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a Saturday appointment?!? And there just happened to be one available! Even the girl at the vet's office was surprised. Miracles do happen!) to take him in and have him checked out and tested so we can get him his shots. Neutering him will have to wait until he's fattened up, I think. And I'd be surprised if we didn't have to cut all the mats off him. At least at this time of year we don't have to worry about fleas, though we'll make sure he gets that medicine, too.

(If he is microchipped, we will try to find his owner and see if he was an escapee or was abandoned. If the former, we will return him home. If the latter, we will give them a stern lecture and keep him.)

[Hedwig]

Thanks for sharing that very cool experience. A similar thing happened to some friends of mine and it turned out that the woman they had bought the house from had just left two cats there because she said, "That house is where they live." Like they weren't her cats but belonged to the house. Also, one of my cats Charlie was left behind when his owner died and her husband was moved into a nursing home. Their children just put him out in the yard and left. I think of my cats as my children and I could no more leave them than any other dear friend. I don't understand it.

[Demeter]

I don't understand it either. Two of my friends recently moved into a house and "inherited" two cats that lived there, but at least the people moving out asked if they minded keeping them (they were moving to an apartment and didn't have enough room for four cats; they took the two youngest, who they figured would adapt to a new environment better). My friends (who also talk to Bast on a regular basis) said of course they would -- figuring it was a sign that they were meant to have the house. So now they have their own cat, Nightwing, the two house cats, Gigi and Onyx, and their MIL is moving in with her cats, Chocolate Cheesecake and Sarah Prettycat. And there's a baby due in April. It will be quite a menagerie.

[Sequoia]

I must admit, I once left a cat behind when we moved.

Don't get me wrong, I love cats. And I have a small Bast figurine. Three of my close friends' main deity is Bast. And one of my lifelong companions was a cat, my dear Tiger Lilly (I hope she's happy wherever she is now, she died about a year ago).

Several years ago, at my old old house, we had adopted a stray kitty. She was a tiny kitten at the time, and we thought it wouldn't be a problem. We took care of her, fed her, sheltered her, etc. But this cat had a mean streak. She'd suddenly claw or bite at you from being placid and happy a moment before. She was MEAN when she had her kittens (which have grown up while very independant, also very sweet cats). She was constantly trying to attack our older cats (my Tiger, and her sister Pongo). So when we moved, we left her at the old house. Now, she was mostly outdoors kitty to begin with, and we knew the next owners liked cats. So we knew she'd be taken care of. But there was no way we were taking that monstrously mean cat to our new house.

also almost a year ago, after tiger had died, a strange cat appeared. Someone had dyed an angora kitten cotton-candy-pink, and then let it go near a busy street. I don't know what they were thinking. But one morning I found the kitty in the bushes. he looked up at me, studdied me for a moment, then walked right up to me (he had run away from everyone else) and let me pick him up. I took him home, bathed him, and fed him. The dye didn't come out, but he was such a sweet kitty! I named him Vincent. It was like he was trying to ease my lonliness over the loss of Tiger.

When I moved in with my dad, I couldn't keep vincent. Appearantly my dad's demon cat (>.< stupid Rockey, she went and destroyed the popcorn garlands I made on the christmas tree while my dad and I were on vacation. She's very destructive when she's jealous or miffed) didn't like Vincent. So I had to leave him at my mom's. Since I wasn't there, he ran away within a month. Never heard about him again.

Now they've got a new kitty, Mr. Biggelsworth. He's a longhair orange tabby, the SWEETEST kitty you'll ever find. He pets you back (you pet him, then he'll stretch his paw and stroke your arm or shoulder), he licks you, he loves laps, he nuzzles your face, he's A DOR A BLE!

but I wish I had my Tiger back. . . or at least, a kitten of my own. x.x but rocky'd never let me. . . darn cat -_-;

your story was sweet, thanks for sharing it.

[Kahlan]

I just got a kitten too. I love cats and am sooooo glad there are wonderful people out there to take care of the unfortunate animals of the world! I hope Bastst's Promise becomes a wonderful and happy addition to your family, you sound like the type of person who can give him the love and attentio he needs!

Keep us up to date, I would love to hear how this all turns out!!

Blessed Be,
Kahlan

[Myst]

If they microchipped him then dropped him off do beat them soundly about the head for both dropping him off and doing so after he was chipped. If you need a weapon or friend to hold them I'll be happy to help. I can't believe anyone would leave such an innocent creature alone.

[Danustouch]

I know...Myst..I totally agree. I can't stand the thought of anyone abandoning an animal! I think it's so horrible.

A few weeks ago, my hubby and I were driving on the highway, in a very rural section of the state, and we saw a dog on the side of the road that looked really confused, and dazed. He kept turning around to look behind him, and running out into the road, as if to cross, and then, running back before a car could hit him. We felt so bad, because it seemed as if he was wondering where in the world he was. It seemed as if he was a "drop off" case too. Unfortunately, we had to find a place to turn around, we were going to pick him up, and bring him to the pound, but when we got there, he was gone. I felt so bad. I just hope he found somewhere to stay :(

[Demeter]

My vet unfortunately doesn't have the microchip reader, but she can tell (once we get the mats off him) if he is chipped. Then we can find someone with a reader, I guess.

We spent some time with Promise in the basement last night, where he has a little nest. We can't let him in the rest of the house yet, until we know he doesn't have any bugs or stuff like that, but he seems healthy, happy to be warm/fed, and pathetically starved for attention. He is eating crunchies and drinking, and we plan to give him some soft food today. He hasn't used the litter box yet, but I'm not surprised. He is very vocal. On closer inspection, I would have to say that he is at least partly (maybe all) Maine Coon, and only about half grown. He has the most incredible big green eyes, a plume of a tail, a nice little ruff, and tufts of fur between his toes. He's going to be gorgeous once he is groomed.

I don't know if he is still a whole tom. In some ways I hope so; it would be nice to see him reach his full size. But if he starts to spray, that's it, off to the vet! He does still have his claws, we were happy to see. Abandoning a declawed cat is equivalent to murdering it outright, IMHO.

I wonder if we should put up a "found" poster on him. Maybe somebody is looking for him.

[Demeter]

No chip. And surprise, surprise, Bastet's Promise is a girl! Here I thought all orange cats were toms, but my vet says there are some rare female red/orange ones. The gene is recessive, so a female has to have two of them in order to express it, and there are lots of other genes that can repress it.

And she also hasn't been spayed, and she's older than I thought at first, about a year -- so we will definitely have to have her spayed when she's strong enough. But it will be at least a couple of months. She has jaundice -- probably from fatty liver syndrome as a result of starvation, but it could also be from one of several other diseases, so they took blood for tests and we should find out today or Wednesday. But she's eating well, so they say she shouldn't need any other treatment for the jaundice and it should clear up on its own. And they can't give her her shots for a month or so until her immune system is stronger, so in the basement she stays! She is NOT happy with that situation and lets us know about it in no uncertain terms!

We got the other three cats moved into the new house yesterday. They're trapped in the library. They are not happy either. Our house is very noisy right now!