Found a New Home

I would like to thank all of the kitties for their kind words about my adoption story. I even gotted called an Adonis by the gang over at "...Its all Good". Mum says that means a handsome young man. Wow.

It did have a happy ending. So it would be nice to hear other kitties adoption stories too.

Mum wanted to add a few words as well.

Derby's Mum: This is to add to the adoption story. Yes it seemed to take forever. But this is how it happened over the time span of a 10 days or so. Derby ended up spending a little over 3 weeks at the shelter, so not a real long time. Some kitties spend much longer. I had been watching the HAWS website and looking at potential adoptees. Some of them were on the website for a month or more.

This shelter has a policy of a 24 hour waiting period before actually taking home an animal. Also, once you select your animal you must come and get it the next day, otherwise, they go back into the adoption pool. So I did my selection on a Friday, pickup on Saturday. Then would have most of the next two days together, before I had to head back to work.

Even though I had seen the cats, both Mikey and Derby, the week before (April 25), I didn't select then as I was out of town for a few days in between. I didn't want to get a pet and then totally leave them alone for a couple of days. That made no sense, so I delayed my actual selection day until a Friday, taking a very long lunch hour (I am salaried and put in tons of hours), then I could do a pickup on Saturday as soon as the shelter opened.

Visitors are not allowed to take cats or dogs out of their pen or cage. If you want to interact further the shelter people bring the animal to you in a quiet and closed room. First, then you don't have someone coming through and letting the animals out. Second, then you can interact without interuption and see behavior without any other distractions.

You also have to have an application on file, and I found one question interesting. They ask if you own your home or rent. Probably typical, but if you say you own your home, you have to prove it by showing a property tax receipt. So if you really rent, you can't lie about it and not have a letter from your landlord. So less likely to have adoption returns or abandoned pets, due to not having permission to have a pet. Also, they ask about previous pets, if you have given them up for adoption, how many at home etc. They do reserve the right to refuse adoptions.

And why Derby (or Benny, as he was previously called) versus Mikey? Derby interacted with me. The other cat was not interested in playing, when I tried to get him to respond to toys, he just didn't respond. Derby on the other hand, had personality. He did react to me and wanted to play. Also the other cat had been ill, kennel cough/URI, and had just been put back on the adoptable list. That is another reason I liked this shelter. They will pull an animal off the list of adoptable animals and put them in foster care and isolate them from the rest of the animals until better. Max of Crew's Views was adopted from the same shelter.

The shelter also asks if for any reason you need to give up your pet that you adopt there, they would be happy to rehome them for you. So bring them back and they will make sure they get a good new home.

Considering it is roulette to if you get a good animal or not, I think I hit the jackpot. Derby is socialable, so when I have company, he is out greeting the guests. People who have visted and have cats, comment on how lucky I was to get a good one. Derby does get a bit sassy, likes to nip with those sharp teeth, especially since he can't claw me. But I can deal with that, and I know when he is getting into 'biting mode' and leave him alone. Hopefully to reinforce that I won't play if he gets too rough with those teeth.

I love my little furguy. Hard to believe it has already been one year. Thanks to all of the blogging buddies and their beans. Your stories are fun to read and helpful in the situtations that all cats seem to face.