Now everything is easy 'cause of you....
On December 31, 2007, we said "goodbye" to our beloved cat companion of 16+ years, Miranda. We needed some time to mourn & remember her, so we did not immediately begin our search for a new cat. We missed our little girl every day, in so many ways, & we knew we would be lucky if we ever found another cat even half as wonderful.
In the early spring of 2009, we began our search for a new family member. We haunted the pages of PetFinders & other rescue sites, weighing pros & cons of age, looks, health, & single vs. multiple cats. For us, pet "ownership" is a lifetime commitment, so we wanted to be sure. We knew that our new furchild would have a hard act to follow, & we were determined to wait for the right one.
We thought maybe we had. An adorable young calico named Amy caught our eye & we went out to meet her. The meeting went well & TheMadBlonde was indeed mad to adopt right away. However, The Bear sensibly decided that we should meet ONE MORE cat. Her name was Ruby, and we would have to wait a day or so & drive to her foster home in a far northern suburb.
TheMadBlonde spent the long drive up there fidgeting. She was sure this was a waste of time. However, she had promised to keep (or try to keep) an open mind, so.... Then we were being greeted at the door by FosterMommyMary, a sensible, sensitive woman who obviously adored her charges & took excellent care of them all. & then we met Ruby.
We had seen her picture- a medium-haired Siamese mix with comical markings & one slightly crossed blue eye. As we walked into MommyMary's dining room, there she lay, stretched out on kitty-perch, calm but somewhat curious. MommyMary was pleased that she seemed so confident to meet us, & we approached The Presence, now all eagerness to meet her.
Within moments she was purring, a loud, happy rumble. When Bear turned away, she delicately stood on her hind legs to knead his arm & beg for a little more attention. She cooed like a dove & kissed our hands. Within 10 minutes of meeting her, we knew we had found our new daughter.
Being the silly theatre people we are, we had already determined that we'd be picking a new name for pretty much any kitty we adopted. In the days since we'd met Amy, Bear had come up with some excellent suggestions, & one of the ones that DIDN'T make the cut for the little calico was "Musette." This was partly based on the character from "La Boheme," who spends her time singing about how cute she is & how she can't help it that everyone adores her (if you're familiar with the musical "Rent," this is the character on whom Maureen is based). It was also partly a pun on the initial sound- "Mu" (mew). & when I saw Ruby, & knew she was the one, I knew that Musette would be her name.
After a long talk with MommyMary, much petting of our lovely, sweet, funny girl, & some playing with the other feline occupants of the house (including an adorable fluffball of a kitten), we filled out paperwork, got our instructions, brought in our old kitty carrying case, hugged a tearful MommyMary goodbye, & carefully left with our new charge. We picked up a few necessities on the way home (litter, food, & a catnip mouse), then prepared to spend the next few days introducing Musette to our home.
Well, understandably, she hid for about the first 10 hours. Our house is a bit cluttered (ha!), so hiding was both easy & effective- we really weren't sure of anything beyond the fact that she couldn't have got out of the room. Finally, after many hours alternate calling, coaxing, understanding, & worry, Bear managed to suss her out. She reluctantly emerged, ran around just a bit, but eventually settled down with an obvious desire to be comforted & to please those who would comfort her. We stayed up VERY late that night, but felt we had made great progress in gaining her confidence & even her affections.
There was still a bit of hide & seek for the next few days, & the many new sounds of the house were pretty scary for a kitty. However, lots of love, attention, & even some play helped to ease the stress, & before long we were able to introduce her to the rest of her domain.
& it's been getting better all the time. A minor early health concern ("But WHY won't she poop??") was got over eventually, & she seems to be in good health & spirits. Found her first hairball today, oh joy! ;-) She is a good player; in fact she will cry if she doesn't get some good play time in each day. We jokingly say she is part greyhound, as she strongly prefers all toys to be moving in a linear fashion so she can run along behind. She makes us laugh & laugh & we look forward each night to coming home to her.
We love our new girl very much, & hope these pictures & words will help you to understand, a little, just why.
PS If you're curious, almost all the picture captions come from songs, including "Rupi's Dance," "The Mouse Police," & "Hunt by Numbers" by Ian Anderson; "Delilah" & "Bijou" by Queen; & "Blue Eyes" by Elton John.
