Life

Guess my run is postponed…

This morning I received an email from Chewy.com telling me that today is National Pet Parents Day! Apparently it’s some holiday dreamt up to be like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Alas, the animals can’t get me brunch or flowers.

Anyways, time flies – it’s been more than a whole year with Seymour! I was so cautious about being tied down by a cat again, but this is a life decision that easily tips over into the PRO category. His presence is worth the trouble of the litter box and the price of the cat sitters. It’s been fun to get to learn his personality over the past year.

10 Funny Things About Seymour

  • After taking him to the vet for an initial checkup, a specific caloric intake was recommended. Well, he’s been on and off his diet for an entire year and he’s gone from 17 to 15 lbs. The vet says he should be 12. That’s my bad of course as the owner, but I swear this cat just wants to be large. I mean, his previous owners actually named him “Fat Cat.” Maybe we should move toward acceptance, as long as he’s healthy.

  • Seymour is so fat that he has to go up and down the stairs in one big burst of energy, lest he lose momentum. To go up the stairs, he crouches, his butt wiggles a bit as he prepares mentally, then he huffs up the stairs in a flurry, with a little “mrowwwww!” of effort all the way up. When hurtling down the stairs, he can’t control his speed, and his tummy fat waddles left and right.
Sneak attack from above
  • Going up the stairs is such an annoyance to him that he does something Ryan calls “Seymour Sonar.” He’ll sit at the bottom of the stairs and yowl plaintively like he’s been hurt, waiting to see if one of us will respond with “Seymour??!!!!”. Then he knows whether it’s worth the effort to go upstairs.
  • Despite his girth, he’s an agile and ferocious hunter.

  • He loves to play with string,  and if I’m ever flossing anywhere in the house (4 times per day now that I’m doing Invisalign), before I’m done, Seymour will show up to watch me floss. To get a better look he’ll stretch up against the vanity and try to bat at the floss. How does he know that I’m flossing? I think that maybe the floss I use is squeaky and sounds like a bird?
He cares about good dental hygiene
  • He fits a lot of cat stereotypes. He loves boxes, has hairballs, and pops the dog with his paw when annoyed. Just like Garfield!
Get off my lawn!
All cats love a sunny spot
  • When it’s cold he sleeps between my legs for warmth. Once he falls asleep, he snores the cutest little kitty snores.

  • He’s like a litterbox version of the fairytale “The Princess and the Pea”. If there is but one smidge of poop hidden in the litter, the whole box is tainted, and he’ll wail angrily for me to clean it up. If I wait too long to take care of it, he’ll poop outside of the box in protest. Because of this, we have 3 litter boxes – almost one on every floor of the house. Every day I’m running all over the house checking each box, just in case. It’s ridiculous, really. He’ll also poop outside of the box when he’s angry at me. When we went on vacation back in October, he had perfect litter box manners for the sitter for a whole week. I come home, and within 30 min there’s poop on the carpet waiting for me to clean up. What the hell.
All up in my business
  • I can walk into his room (my office) with a bowl of wet food, set it down, and he’ll sit outside the doorway staring in. He loves dry food, and sometimes he will wait for me to add dry food before he’ll come over and start eating. I’ve figured out how to trick him by just lightly crinkling the kibble bag. Just the sound gets him running!

  • He is a good cat-brother to Bogie. They  tolerate each other 🙂

Life

When I moved to San Francisco I had to re-home my cat Catullus. He went to my Uncle Mao, so I know that he had a good life. But I’ve wanted another cat ever since. In fact, I remember in a therapy session maybe about eight years ago, my therapist asked me what I wanted out of life. All I wanted was a job that I enjoy that pays well, and a cat.

One perk of moving to Philadelphia was that Ryan and I would be able to get pets without worrying about landlord issues. Bogie came to us by chance on a visit to the SPCA on our very first day in Philly. We saw him, we met him, filled out paperwork, and we had adopted a puppy in a few hours. When I asked about getting a cat as well (I fell for a few hard that day…), the SPCA suggested waiting until Bogie was older, so that he would have training and impulse control.  Bogie is 10 months old now, so it seemed like now or never as far as adding another animal to the family.

I’d been creeping on Petfinder on and off since April of last year, and a few weeks ago I started looking again in earnest. Ryan wanted me to consider getting a kitten so that it would grow up with Bogie, but my dream was to rescue a fat male adult orange tabby who was especially sweet.

I found a few rescue cats that I was interested in, but I wanted to meet them in person instead of applying first. Why invest all the time passing adoption screening when you haven’t even met the cat yet? So I decided to hit up the shelters on February 1 (Saturday). Philadelphia being the sports crazy town it is, the shelters were running a Super Bowl pet adoption promotion – $25 off adoptions at the SPCA, and all adoptions FREE at ACCT. I guess the promotion worked, because the SPCA and ACCT were pretty bare compared to when I’d last visited in July. I didn’t have a love connection with any cat, and surprisingly went home empty handed.

That afternoon I applied for a cute kitten named Max. The adoption application took about 30 minutes, which was a surprise to me. They wanted me to describe my situation (rent or own, do the windows have screens, backyard?, who lives in the house, how old is everyone, any dogs?, what are their personalities and training history, list your past pets and how they died…) explain what I’d do in so many various scenarios (have to move, get pregnant, lose job, etc). And they wanted to inspect my house, call 3 character references, and my vet.

Max the cat
Max

The rescue was a volunteer operation, so I didn’t hear anything back for a few days. Several days later (Monday) I had to go downtown to get my laptop fixed. Afterwards, since I had kitty fever, I visited Morris Animal Refuge, which claims to be America’s first animal shelter.

I met this absolute cutie named Sebastian, but it wasn’t a good fit. He had been surrendered by his owner for playing too violently with his kitty sister, and was not dog friendly at all. He even hissed at a dog that passed by his cage.

Sebastian the cat
Sebastian

While I was there, I was trying to chat up a lady that came after me, who was just looking for “a cat.” She saw me playing with Sebastian, and met him right after me. When I went to pet him again, I heard her in the background talking to the adoptions officer. She was interested in adopting Sebastian, and the officer explained that adoptions were  “first come, first serve.” I stepped into the lobby to find her furiously filling out paperwork. I asked her if she’d “fallen in love.” She said yes, but she wouldn’t tell me which cat it was. She was trying to adopt that cat from right out under me!! It was hilarious. And cut-throat, really.

When I got home, I applied for another cat I was interested in – Sir Walter. He was a snuggly fat orange cat who was ok with dogs. Bingo! And unlike a kitten, I was really saving a life.

The cat rescue got him from ACCT, where he was surrendered by his previous owner. His original name was “Fat Cat” and he  was 6 years old, 17 pounds, flea-infested with matted fur, not microchipped, and had never seen a vet. The owner even thought the cat was female! The owner took him in when a neighbor left him out on the street when they moved. After two years, the owner had to move as well, and couldn’t keep him.

The application took me about 40 minutes to complete, but the rescue that was fostering him (Whiskers of Love) was much more responsive, and I heard back that day that my application would be processed in 24 hours.

The next day (Tuesday) I was approved! I could go meet him a few days later, and if it was a match, bring him home. So I withdrew my application for Max.

Friday Ryan and I took a Lyft about 30 minutes out to a pet store in Northeast Philadelphia. We met Sir Walter, and that was it. He was just as sweet and docile as could be. They had him on a cat harness, and we walked him around the shop! I knew that he was just right for our family.

Going home

We’ve had him for three days now, and he’s been great. Totally chill with Bogie, and very quiet, doesn’t meow at all (Bogie doesn’t bark at all either, super weird). He just loafs around and purrs. He never complains, even when you’re washing him. You can pick him up, put him in your lap, and he’ll just stay there for endless pets. I love him already. I went back and forth on names for a few days (because Sir Walter was REALLY good), but have decided on Seymour. He’s named after another chubby yet gentle ginger – Philip Seymour Hoffman. 🙂

Seymour getting comfy
Usurper!!!
Just loafin’ around
Zzzzz….

Not friends yet, but it’s progress!

Oh, last point – I was pretty hesitant about adopting through a cat rescue, worrying that I wouldn’t make it through the picky adoption screening gauntlet, but Whiskers of Love was great. The foster mom really knew a lot about his personality, and when I had litter box troubles a few days later, they were quick to help with more info. Would use them again, but I don’t think Ryan would let me have ANOTHER cat, lol.