Well, we finally got a new pet!
It took us a while to get past the grief of Nanako’s passing, but we finally felt ready to get another kitty. We searched petfinder.com and made a list of about 20 cats who were just unbelievably cute! Then, we ran into problems. We couldn’t possibly have 20 cats! All we needed was one, maybe two! So, we tried to cull. But really, how can you cull out the cutest little pair of kitty eyes in the whole world? Much less 20 pairs?!
It just wasn’t working. We had too many options! So, to limit ourselves, we decided to head on down to the Petco on a Saturday afternoon to check out the kitties they had for adoption. Surely that would make everything easier! We’d only have 10 pair of cute little kitty eyes to decide from! Not to mention kitty paws and tails and meows and purrs…oh, dear!
Full of excitement, we drove out, walked through the store to the adoption area, looked inside…and saw dogs. Not cuddly little kitties….yipping puppies! We were a bit disappointed, but I wanted to get some petting action in while we were there. I love to cuddle animals!
Perhaps we were in trouble from that moment. The first couple of dogs were a bit hyper. They were all jumping tongues and squirms of excitement. They were cute, don’t get me wrong, but we wanted a kitty. We were just in there to pet!
The next dog in line was a big black lab mix who did NOT like men. Eric couldn’t get close. The poor puppy! I mean, what could have been done to the poor baby to make him just hate and fear men like that?!
Next one was a black and white dog who was laying there sleeping. I bent down to pet him, and he only looked up at me with these tired friendly eyes and lay right back down. He had the most amazing coat! All soft and thick. He was a cutie! Apparently, he had been playing with the beagle puppy being kept next to him and had been plumb wore out! They told us his name was Jester.
We moved on to the remaing two dogs (the beagle next to Jester was in the process of being adopted) and left the adoption area. But I just couldn’t get Jester’s awesome coat and laid-back attitude out of my head. He had been awesome! And the more I thought about him, the more I wanted to bring him home.
I admit it…I bottom-lipped and sad-eyed Eric into getting him. LOL Of course, we still had to get through the adoption process.
We had attempted to adopt from the Humane Society once before and were turned down rather rudely. They claimed there was too much “in and out” of animals for their liking. They based their decision on the information we listed in one particular section of the application. In this section, we were asked to list the animals we had owned in the previous 10 years, so to establish ourselves as experienced, qualified pet owners, I listed 4 animals:
- My cat Whiteface who died of old age at 13 years
- Mom’s cat Son who died at the age of 11 after being attacked by coons who got into the yard
- Kitty Kat, my mom’s dog who died at 8 or 9 quite suddenly (we never really knew what happened to him)
- Eric’s cat Ichabod who had to be given back to his original owner when he moved
I really don’t understand how that qualifies as too much “in and out” of animals. We were very upset and the memory made us anxious about this adoption process through the Friends of Parkville Animal Shelter.
If anyone would like to adopt an animal, PLEASE go through FOPAS! They obviously love the animals they care for! We were so very impressed with how efficient and nice everyone there was! The adoption process, though not a breeze of course, was so refreshingly well-handled! They were inquisitive without being prying. They were concerned without being condescending. I truly urge anyone in the Kansas City area to adopt from them! We’re thinking of getting a kitty next (after summer classes with Harley), and we’ll definitely be getting our kitty from them!
So, we now have a very cute dog who we renamed Harley Quin.