Who said black cats were bad luck, anyway? They were wrong.
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| Tic Tac |
As many of you may know from reading this blog, Susan and I
adopted a cat from the Wake County Animal Shelter (WCAC) a few months ago. Suze
has jokingly referred to Tic Tac as our first “failed foster,” meaning that we
brought him home with us as a foster pet and wound up adopting him. Rather
quickly at that. I guess I should not have been surprised at myself for wanting
to keep him. When they first handed him to me at the shelter and he sat
languidly in my arms purring I was pretty much toast. I guess I was more ready
to adopt than I thought.
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| Spice the Cat |
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| Tippi the Toy Destuffer |
We had been without a cat for about a year and a half. After
our previous cat, Spice, passed away, I felt exhausted from the strains of
having to deal with his declining health as well as the urinary incontinence
issues our black Lab Tippi had gone through. I just wanted everything simpler for a little while. Tippi passed
away as well (what a year that was), and Suze decided to pursue fostering pets
versus adopting. As we tried our hand at the fostering process we found it to be
something we both could live with and were doing some good with at the same
time. We did not foster any cats, though. I felt that fostering was fine, but
it still needed to be simple (there’s
that word again), and especially while we were fostering a rambunctious boxer
mix named Bubba Rex, I did not have the spare mental fortitude to add anything
else to the equation. I knew I was probably missing out on all the little joys
that having a cat could give me, but the desire for simplicity won out. I did
not even want to have to clean a cat box, as simple as that is.
But we got Rex adopted (I missed him despite his being a
handful), and the next dogs to come our way were laid back, unchallenging
cases. I began to relax more and Suze suggested that we try fostering a cat in
between foster dogs, as it might be a good way to see if I was ready to have a cat
again. We brought Tic Tac home, an “eviction” kitty that was left behind after his
owners were booted out of their place apparently, and as much as I held off
expressing it, there was simply nothing working against this cat being
seemingly perfect to adopt. He was affectionate, playful, well mannered, and a
joy to be with. What could I do? Less than 24 hours after bringing him home I
confessed that I wanted to keep him, and Suze was pleased because she liked him
too.
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| Tic Tac Humming "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles |
I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a cat on such a
basic level. There is something almost spiritual about spending time with a pet
like Tic Tac. Having grown up with cats, I connect strongly with their
aesthetic – just the way they sit, meow at you, play with a bottle cap or drink
from their water bowl. They are almost therapeutic to watch. Just laughing at
Tic Tac’s antics brought a joy back to me that I had almost forgotten about.
Still, the “reboot” period was good for me. It made me appreciate Tic Tac even
more.
Now the story continues as we foster dogs in our
cat-occupied home. Of course, all the dogs need to be cat-compatible, and testing
them at the WCAC for this has worked fine in each case so far. It has been fun
and interesting to watch Tic Tac and the new foster doggies interact. One dog
that we kept for a friend temporarily, Princess, just ignored Tic Tac as he
raced up on her and tried his best “sideways arched-back Halloween cat” moves
on her. Another dog, Sookie, was a little more interactive with Tic Tac, but
still very tolerant of him when he would grab her head and try to bite at her
(seriously, this cat has no fear). Tic Tac has been having even more fun as our
latest foster, Jewel, chases him around too. It’s like the old show “Wild
Kingdom” sometimes as Tic Tac chases Jewel and reaches up with both front paws
on Jewel’s haunches like he’s a lion trying to take down a wildebeest.
Is Tic Tac without his challenges, though? No. His halo
didn’t stay on permanently. As he got more comfortable in our home, his “good
behavior” started to slide (that seems to be a recurring pattern with our
foster pets – probably it’s natural). We now know how much he likes to get into
anything he can – stealing items off our desks, chewing on things, getting on
the tops of counters or tables. And what’s with the FLINGING of the cat litter
out of the box, dude??? You trying to dig to China? A couple of times my brain
has pinged – “You see, you see? What a hassle these pets can be?” But it’s
really not that bad. Maybe the old adage is true – you don’t get something for
nothing. For as much as Tic Tac’s a little bit of a rascal, it actually makes
him more interesting. And his occasional misbehavior is far outweighed by the
delight he brings us the rest of the time.
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| I KEEL this Two by Four!! |
