In early December, I traveled down the street to the new and improved animal shelter, where rooms full of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies waited to be adopted. If you’ve studied this website, you’ll know that I already had three cats and a dog, but I have a tried and true philosophy. Every five years or so, it’s good to get a kitten to liven things up. This has always worked for me, and is especially beneficial for the older cats who are still kittens at heart, and find themselves suddenly wanting to play with the energetic new companion.
Believing in this theory, and knowing that I had been hankering to get myself a kitten as a birthday present (my birthday is tucked between Christmas and New Year’s in a rarely-noticed corner of the calendar year). So, as I said, I ambled down the street with my sister, and we were led to the cat and kitten room. Some of the kitties were in a “playroom” where they were leaping around with some volunteers who dangled enticing toys for them. Others were on the floor in the cage room, stretching their legs under the careful eyes of the room manager.
My sister and I petted and played with some of these kittens, but I said that I’d like to see a kitten I had seen on the website, listed under the named “Minnie.” The young manager pointed to a cage, where Minnie stood looking at us and reaching her paw out of the cage. She looked just as her picture had suggested, and she was adorable (see photo with this blog). I especially loved her big white whiskers and her adorable floppy white paws. Minnie was not a tiny kitten; she was already five months old, and all of her siblings had been adopted. The shelter helper said, “Minnie obviously can’t understand why people play with her but don’t take her home.” I couldn’t understand, either. She was gorgeous, and I wanted to free her from her cage. Then again, I wanted to set ALL of them free.
While we had been talking, Minnie tried to climb inot my large purple purse, which sat in the middle of the tiled floor. I fell in love then. “I’ll take her,” I said.
Minnie has lived with us since before Christmas. She immediately claimed the entire house, and I joked to my husband that we should name her “Everywhere,” because that’s where she was. Instaed, we named her Daphne, which suits her beauty and her rather grand nature. She LOVES lounging and relaxing on all of our furniture in turns; she is an insatiable eater and always demands to be fed first; and she is particularly affectionate, letting us pick her up and cuddle her without complaint.
In other words, she is so perfect for our household (she won my husband over in about 30 seconds) that she seems to have been destined for us. She also serves as my self-prescribed therapy cat in these stressful times. I think a cat’s purr an actually lower blood pressure.
So I wanted to introduce you all to the lovely Daphne; I[m sure you’ll see her little face in the next newsletter. I hope to send a missive later in February, hopefully with several pieces of news!
