Ok, I know it's not Friday, the traditional 'cat blogging day' in blogging land, but I wanted to introduce everyone to my new friend. I'm not that fond of the name they gave her at the shelter, but here goes... Paikea Rene. I've renaming her Esme. I think. Still haven't settled on it yet.
Exactly one week after Zanzibar died, almost to the hour, I was waiting to go into the "End of Life Support Group" that I had been attending at my vet since Zanzi got her final and definitive diagnoses in November. As I was waiting, I was looking at the shelter cats, all waiting to be adopted. There were the older cats such as Honey and Sophie, whose owner had passed away from breast cancer, Marlowe the street cat who looked like he came straight out of a gangsta novel, and Stallone, a big and fat tuxedo cat. Among the four older cats, was a little kitten, who looked so sad, lonely, and generally, depressed. She was very very cute, too.
So, I go into the meeting, and I mentioned how sad, lonely, depressed and very very cute this kitty was, and the next thing I know, she's sitting in my lap. I'm being told how she doesn't like other kitties, and why she was by herself out in the front shelter cages and not the back cages, where all the kittens were. (She's a loner, like me!) After the meeting, somehow she came home with me. I don't quite know how it happened. All of a sudden she was in a cat carrier, and the same lady who drove me to the emergency vet to put Zanz to sleep was driving me home with new kitty. I really don' t know exactly
how it happened, but lo and behold, there's a four-five month old kitten sitting on my stomach as I type this.
It's been a little more than a month that Zanz died and a little over three weeks that PR or Esme came home with me. I am only fostering her, making sure that she becomes acclimated to human beings, as she had been trapped and was a little skittish when it came to trusting. In fact, when I first brought her home, she wouldn't come near me. I had to grab her whenever she came near, if I was gonna get any kitty lovin'. It even made me sad a bit, cause I kept remembering how close Zanz and I were.
She still will run away from me if I startle her, and she's still a bit skittish. However, since I took her back to the vet yesterday to check up on her respiratory tract infection, she's been much calmer since her second vet visit and return back. So I think she knows she's staying (yes, it's pretty official that she's staying), so she's actually a lot more trusting.
One of the reasons I'm keeping her, is that I found a new apartment share in the Bronx, and will be moving in a few weeks, and my new place accepts animals.
Here's a picture of Paikea Renee Esme (still haven't decided on the name) but here she is:
This was taken when she first got to my apartment, and she's bigger now. And yes, I read Harry Potter. OK?
My vet runs
Infinite Hope Shelter.
Doesn't Paikea look peaceful? All Buddha and Zen-like, eh? Well, don't believe the hype. All my baby wants to do is play, play and play some more, don't you know it! Instead of Paikea, she should be named, "Play-ah" but it's too late to change her name. And don't EVEN try to pet the Play-ah... no no no!
