Oh yeah - the cat!

So, we got a cat!  Actually, we got her a few weeks ago, but I'm just writing about it now.  Funny story, actually...

I had decided that I wanted a cat.  The kids were totally on board with this plan.  I think Brian was more-or-less indifferent and maybe skewing a little towards "really????"  But I had some very specific requirements for a new addition to the household.  

1) must be declawed.

2) must be friendly.

3) must not be a kitten (kittens are a crap-shoot for personality later on).

So, I started with a local no-kill cat shelter.  I took the kids one evening and we met two very nice kitties.  I had to fill out some reference check paperwork to actually go in a pet the cats, but all was well.  Allison's favorite was (of course) the 20 pound FIV positive 13 year old cat.  Uh - no.  

So, then we went BACK to the cat shelter with Brian that weekend.  The kids were - shall we say - excited.  And I got the impression that our choice to have a declawed cat was somewhat frowned upon.  I don't know why - we wanted a cat that was already declawed - we weren't going to have it done to an undeclawed cat.

Well, a few days later I got an e-mail from the shelter saying that they didn't think the cats we were considering would be a good fit in our household.  They discussed our situation with the adoption counselors (?) and could not guarantee the safety of a declawed cat in our home.  Read-Between-The-Lines = The-Kids-Were-Too-Excitable and the cat would have no way to defend itself against the onslaught of attention.  Clearly, a double-income, cat-experienced, well-educated household with children who will love an animal and have no other pets to compete with is a terrible, terrible place for a cat!  I totally agree!  I mean - look at the horror!!!

So, next stop - Oshkosh Humane Society.  Allison and I stopped there on my birthday on our way home from Madison.  We met several nice kitties, but none really that I got super excited about.  So, I went on Thursday to the Appleton Humane Society and met two very cute cats: Riley, who was Superfriendly, white, and shed like crazy, and Kitty Gaga, who was a little less friendly, but also considerably less sheddy.

The kids had a half day the next day so I took them to meet the two cats.  The kids voted Kitty Gaga.  I figured there would also be an application, reference check, etc there too - but the lady was basically like "sure, when do you want to take her home!" and I was like....... uh, tomorrow?

The only problem with "tomorrow" was that we had NO cat stuff and I had to teach all day, which meant that I needed to send Brian to pick up the cat.  Brian, who had not met and/or exactly agreed to the bringing home of said cat.  (I was relaying this story to a friend who then said I was no longer in the running for wife-of-the-year. The fact that she thought I might have at some point been in the running was sweet to begin with).

So, Allison and I went to pick up a bunch of cat supplies, and then Brian and the kids went to pick up the cat.  Then I left for NC for most of the next week.  Yep!  I rock!

So - here she is:  Kitty Gaga.  She needs a new name, however as time passes the hurdle of getting a new name is getting larger.  The options are this: Frankie, Wiley, Kitty, and Sky.  We've eliminated Sky from the running. Feel free to cast your vote in the comments.  She likes armrests, belly rubs, and sleeping on our heads.  And yes - she looks EXACTLY like our last cat.  That was not the plan.