…and it’s not mine!
I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the Spearson household, Abby!
I don’t do well in a house without a cat. I still wake up and think there’s a kitty on my legs, and I look around corners for one. I miss Maia all the time, and we still talk about her with the kids often, and I’m not trying to replace her. But my life does feel a bit emptier without a cat in it.
And now more than ever, when I’m home all day, every day, I feel it.
So I’ve been searching our local shelters daily, putting in applications all over the place, but it seemed like I wasn’t alone in wanting to add a new pet to our family. Cats were getting adopted out so quick, I never even got a call back.
And then.
I got an urgent message from a sister about a pregnant cat - would I be willing to adopt one of the kittens maybe? The cat was a sort of stray (her owners moved away and left her and a few other cats behind) and there were some people actively trying to find homes for all of them. This particular cat, however, had recently gotten pregnant. They weren’t sure what to do with her, but maybe they could find some homes for the kittens. I don’t know who was more surprised when I responded that actually I’d take the pregnant mama.
We might be crazy, but it just feels like the perfect timing. We have a big empty house, we’re home all day, and have the resources to help this kitty. I’m not sure what would have happened to her otherwise - I just couldn’t say no.
So I recently drove a very long solo trip to go pick her up. As we speak, she is getting acclimated to our house, and probably looking in every corner judging them to be kitten worthy or not. It’s definitely going to be an experience, but in a year where there’s a lot of disappointments, I hope this can be a bright spot for us.
The kids have both met her, and are very excited. G welcomed her with some primal song and dance and a lot of screaming, which she didn’t seem to mind. E was jumping up and down he was so excited, and couldn’t wait to show her all of her new toys.
Of course he’s a little confused, a little sad, and a little excited, which explains how we all feel. He’s both asked for her over and over until she was here, and was too excited to sleep the night before she got here, but will occasionally also say “I don’t want Abby, I want Maia.” Sometimes he forgets her name and ends up calling her Zoey (our friend’s cat) because it’s all he can think of. At one point he gave up and called her ‘cat’ for a while. Before we went to bed the first night he told her “Good night, I love you, I want to eat you!” (that’s a good thing).
She’s already been to the vet, and tested negative for FIV and FeLV! She’s actually in excellent health considering where she came from and what she’s been through. She’s also super sweet and charmed everyone at the vet’s office.
While there, they were able to estimate that she’s having 4 kittens! They took an x-ray, which is the weirdest and coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Each dot represents a kitten head, and you can kind of trace back down and see the little kitten spines (especially if you look at the red one).
We can’t wait to meet you!
