For the past few months, Kim and I have been talking about getting pets (read: I have been convincing Kim to get cats). She was hesitant at first, for a variety of reasons, but after some discussion, we decided to plan on getting a pair of cats. This involved planning locations for litter boxes, research into ideal ages and habitats (a small apartment in the city is non-ideal for some animals), and then deciding where to look. After hearing that the Anti-Cruelty society was having a special for $1 adoptions last weekend, we decided to go look on Friday and plan on getting them then. This meant buying everything (carriers, litter boxes, dishes) and finding a vet. On Friday, we met at the shelter and began checking out the available cats.
There are only a limited number of cages out front (there seem to be even more in the back). We were looking for two cats that (at least) were good with other cats and not kittens but not too old that habits are difficult to break. Looking around, many of the cats were older (5+ years) and often under the “does not play well with others” category. (Many of them were very good cats, just in regards to the owner) One set of sisters, that were about 2 years old and sharing a joint cage (there was a tube between two separate cages) caught our attention. I took one out of the cage and let her walk around, she seemed very relaxed around me and was happy to let me keep petting her. Kim checked her sister out, who seemed less contempt to just sit around outside her cage and kept trying to explore the room (which they didn’t want her doing). We were pretty taken, but continued to look around. There are two big rooms with a variety of cats living in them (these cats played well as they were stuck in the show rooms together), but none of them really caught our attention. We decided to get the sisters and named them Sora (Japanese for “sky”) and Tatsu (Japanese for “dragon” YAY!). After sitting through over an hour of paperwork, we were allowed to take them home. Sora was not very happy with being in the carrier, so we passed on taking the L and got a cab.
We left them in the main bathroom for a few hours as they got used to the new surroundings. As the night wore on, we let them out into the main living room/kitchen area. Tatsu came out and began climbing everywhere, getting the lay of the land, while Sora sat on the toilet seat watching us go by. She eventually joined her sister in the main room as we were getting ready to go to bed. We didn’t let them into the bedroom at first, so all night, they were meowing for attention. Kim ended up sleeping on the couch because of this (as I am typing this, Tatsu refuses to let me not pet her). We introduced them to the bedroom the next morning and the office the following day. Now they roam the apartment as they please and mostly stalk us for attention.
They are still getting used to living with us (and us living with them). Like Sora, for some unknown reason, just sprinted through the office into the corner. It will continue to be an eventful life in our apartment as the occupants doubled.