Monday, December 21, 2015

In which Cat #2 is adopted and we are happy but we are also sad because we love our pets more than we love our people sometimes

Primo messaged me this morning to tell me that the cat adoption lady came by to pick up Cat #2 this morning. C2 is going to a retired, widowed Lutheran minister whose cat died. He (the minister) is lonely and used to having a cat and I guess doesn't mind having a mature (13 years old) cat instead of a kitten.

Heck, I don't have the energy for a kitten and I am not a retired widow. Kittens are lovely (have you seen tinykittens.com?) but they are work.

Sly and Doris' neighbor, whom we shall call Nadine, has been taking care of the cats. Nadine shall be her name, no matter if I have already mentioned or named her. I cannot remember and I am too lazy to search previous posts.

Nadine is lovely. LOVELY. She came to the funeral and spoke and said she felt bad that she had not been a better neighbor and Primo and I were all, "What IS she talking about? She is married with a little kid and a full-time job. As long as she brings in her trash cans, cuts her grass, and doesn't spit on her neighbors, she is a good neighbor."

But Primo had told Nadine that Sly and Doris thought they had offended Nadine somehow because she didn't - she didn't - I don't know! Maybe she didn't talk to them as much once her baby was born because she had a baby? Maybe rather than wondering why Nadine and her husband were not as friendly as they had been, Sly and Doris could have said, "Oh! You just had a baby? Could we make you dinner? Would you like us to come over for an hour in the morning so we can watch the baby while you take a shower?"

It is my most positive guess that words like that never crossed Sly and Doris' lips, but you know - don't speak ill of the dead, etc, etc.

Poor Nadine feels guilty because Sly and Doris thought they had done something and they never asked Nadine if everything was OK. You know - the way a normal person would.

Where was I?

Well, Nadine has been an angel and has been taking care of the cats and has lent her gardening tools to Primo and had been busting her butt to get C1 and C2 adopted. Seriously. She took the cats to a cat adoption event and got them featured on some cat radio broadcast and, along with a vet tech friend of hers, she even cut C1's nails.

Nadine truly is an angel.

Primo needs to get her a really nice bottle of wine or a Starbucks gift card or a restaurant certificate or all three.

Yesterday, Nadine found someone to adopt C2. C2 is an older boy, a Maine Coon. He is sweet and gentle and has a tiny little voice that belies his big fluffy Maine Coon-ness. He is a lovebug and just wants to be brushed and petted.

Unfortunately, he also wants to be with Primo at night and will hurl himself at the  bedroom door like a battering ram, so Primo has to drag a bookcase across the archway and then put a folding table on top of the bookcase to keep C2 from jumping onto the bookcase.

A few nights ago, C2 knocked down the folding table and made such a clatter.

Primo will not miss that part of C2.

But here is the sad part and this probably should have been the lede. It made me sad to think of C2 going to his new home. Everything is all different and wrong for him. For 13 years, he lived with Sly and Doris. As mean as Sly could be, I never saw him or heard of him being mean to his pets. He loved his kitties. That might be the only nice thing I can say about him, but it is something. Sly loved his pets.

Now C2 is being taken away to a new place. I am sure the retired Lutheran minister will be wonderful, but C2 wants his place. He doesn't understand what's going on. He just knows that everything has changed. The hand has changed. The steps have changed. And that makes me sad because there might be things about certain people we won't miss, we never want our pets to suffer. They have never done anything to deserve it. Goodbye, C2.

7 comments:

  1. That made me tear up. My mom's cat has been so sad since my dad passed. I'm sure C2 will adjust, and his new mama sounds lovely, but it is hard to think of the poor old man having to move house after loosing his people. Be well C2!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry, Knittychick. I had seen on your blog that your dad was sick and not expected to live. Humans sort of understand death, but a poor kitty just wonders and wonders what happened.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Goldie. You're right the animals don't understand, they just know their whole world is gone. Feel for Primo too, having to wrap up all these loose ends. You don't realize everything you're connected to until you try and settle it all up for loved ones who've passed.

      Delete
  2. If they land in a good home, I think they settle in to their new routines. Especially once they figure out that they are staying there.

    I love Maine Coons, my mom had a tuxedo coat guy. Huge and sweet.

    Did cat1 find a home and I missed it? I hope so.

    It is normal to worry about them, and hope they understand what is happening. I bet if C2 gets to sleep on the bed he's pretty sure he found a good place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw, what a bittersweet time, but remember that you are giving C2 the gift of love and companionship for his final years and bringing the retired Lutheran minister lots of joy, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, poor babies. Maine Coons are not only big foofballs, they are remarkably smart, social...and needy. But SO sweet. I wish I was close enough to adopt C2!

    ReplyDelete