Meet Smokey, our newest addition to the family. He looks annoyed, but actually he’s a total sweetheart. We adopted him today from the Nashville Humane Association.
My husband and I had been talking about getting a second cat for a little while now. Ever since we lost Sully a year ago, I haven’t had much interest in a second cat. Bailey does just fine as an only cat…
…or he did. In about the last month, he’s become Mr. Needy. Perhaps its because we’ve had so many houseguests come and go. Perhaps its because its tour season, and my husband is gone regularly. But, its like he has to be under foot non-stop, or be in my lap while I want to work or eat. He sleeps almost on top of me at night.
I love my cat, but seriously?
He was just screaming, “I need a playmate.”
Holding us back was the cost. Shots. Spay/neutering. Etc. How could we put that kind of expense out on a pet? Especially when we need to be saving for later this year, and we want to start focusing on kids.
Then. I saw a news report.
Humane Society focuses on 30 day cat adoption campaign
“All adult cats are ranging from $0 to $28 and all kittens have been reduced to $65 adoption fees,” explained Lisa Reeves with the Nashville Humane Society.
According to Reeves all of the felines up for adoption have already been spayed or neutered and have already undergone their first round of vaccinations.
My ears perked up. I called my husband on the road. We agreed as soon as he got home, we’d go pick up a kitten. We could NOT beat that price!
So we went today to pick out our new family member.
Our attention was first drawn to a grey tabby that demanded to be loved. Precious!! It was a female, though, and we really wanted to stick with males. Very vocal, also, and that made me shy away as well. Bailey is vocal enough! I didn’t want another super-vocal cat on my hands!
Plus, this sounds terrible, but when we adopted my parent’s dog, it was a similar situation. She jumped out of the kennel into my arms… we thought it was that she picked us. No, she was just over rambunctious, and while we love her… she’s not the brightest tool in the shed. So. Lesson learned. Look around and decide what you want more than which pet demands your attention first.
We kept looking, and one headbutted his case as I walked by… I had kinda wanted a black cat, and there were those orange eyes staring back at me. Purring up a storm, I took him out of his cage. I liked him right away. My husband wasn’t as sold, so we kept looking.
We wanted a kitten so we could raise it in our world, versus try to adapt to how an adult cat was raised previously. A few of the other cats caught our eye, but our choice of males was slim.
So we went back to Smokey — as he was named at the Association, and as we decided to keep him named — and my husband held him this time. He snuggled down into his arms, and my husband said, “Okay.”
We filled out our paperwork, paid the $65 fee, and left with a new kitten, a box of cat litter, a coffee mug, two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies (Thin Mints, for the WIN), cat toy, cat treats, and a voucher for coupons to Pet Smart. All we have to do is get his next couple rounds of shots. Otherwise… the only expense now is to feed him! I am so blown away by what all we got for the fee. I remember when we got Bailey neutered… Around $150 on top of what we’d paid to adopt him in the first place! I feel like we practically stole Smokey! LOL!
Ahhh… He and Bailey are still getting to know each other. There’s not hate there, just distrust on both sides. It took Bailey and Sully a few days to get to know each other when we got Bailey, so I know to just be patient. They’ll be best friends in no time, and we’ll be one big happy family!
