Our Adopted Shelter Cats

It was definitely a mistake for my 21 year old daughter to visit an animal shelter! Over the years we have had as pets; dogs, cats, a bunny, hamsters, guinea pigs, hermit crabs, goats, fish and a horse. Most of these animals came to be ours after much begging from my little girl who has always loved animals.
She called after her visit to the shelter in December 2009, and said she wanted the little cat who stuck her paws out of the cage as my daughter walked by. She took that as a sign that the cat wanted to go with her. That cat was Fontana. A few days later, on December 20, my son and I drove to Manchester in a snow storm to meet with my daughter and pick out our new cat.
We had originally planned on one cat, but when I was growing up we had 2 cats and I remembered how they played together so having two was an option. Since we were adopting them at the same time, we had a chance to find out if they would get along.
Richie and Fontana spent some time together in a little room and since they didn't fight, we took them home.
Cats are independent creatures and although they mostly ignore each other, there are times when they will run together in the yard and chase one another up trees.
We feel like we couldn't have made a better choice.

At the shelter we had noticed that Richie's cage was all wet. The shelter worker explained that he constantly dumped his water bowl and then would lay in it.
Once he was living with us it didn't take long to realize that he had a thing for water. From sticking his paws and head into my cups of water on the table to hanging over the toilet, he has to be able to get his feet into some water during the day.
It almost seems to be a comfort thing for him. He puts his two front paws into his water bowl and drinks and does the same in the bathroom sink. In fact we can't brush our teeth without him being in our face and rubbing and purring waiting his turn to "soak".

1. Ripping up the toilet paper (a new addition to his bag of tricks)


2. Chewing on plants, pencils, notebooks, my eyeglasses or anything he thinks will get my attention


3. Jumping up on the kitchen counter (which he knows is bad)


4. Biting at my legs (very naughty)


5. Sliding himself along (upside down) under my bed at night


6. Climbing to the top of the door screen (when he's outside and wants to come in)


7. Walking across my computer keys while I'm working

One reason I was talked into getting cats was the mouse problem. I had seen, yes seen, a mouse in my rental house. I had set mouse traps (Eeeuu) and caught none.

Sure enough, within the first few days after the cats came to live with us, Richie caught a mouse in my kitchen at 6:00 am while we were all getting ready for school and work.
From there he went on to cut down on the chipmunk population (which is what he's carrying in this photo). He has also caught red squirrels, which are very fast and unfortunately a few birds.

I honestly wasn't ready for the myriad of dead animals he'd leave all over the yard.

Sweet little Fontana is seldom any trouble at all. In fact the only issue I have with her is that she sometimes won't come in at night. We used to find her sitting at the side of the house and we had to go pick her up and bring her in. Now she is wise to us and doesn't sit there any longer.
She is a typical cat who mostly ignores us. She eats very little, but loves her treats!
She sleeps in crazy positions and has just begun to sometimes sleep in my lap. She loves to be brushed and the color of her coat is more of a dark chocolate brown, especially underneath.
She loves her chin scratched and will grab at my hands when I try to stop - no claws out either!

Both cats have medium long hair and both of them had lots of knots of fur under their neck. Richie's were so bad that we had to cut them off as he'd let us. I bought a fine tooth wire brush, which they were wary of at first, but Fontana ended up loving.
Richie also had a hunk of hair missing from his back which has filled in nicely.

I snapped this photo of Richie laying down while eating his food.
He's male, that's all I'm saying.

If you are already an animal owner you will know that each one, like each person, has their own personalities and odd little quirks. While you are getting used to having a new pet in the house, they are also getting used to their new surroundings.

Remember that many things will be temporary and WILL GET BETTER!
At first Fontana would hide all day, sleeping under the bed or couch. They both kept us up at night or woke us early in the morning. We had a litter box in the kitchen where they could easily find it for the first few weeks and then moved it to the basement once they were comfortable roaming the entire place.

Cats can be destructive, and must have someplace inside where it's okay to scratch. They are able to learn where it's okay and where it's not okay to sharpen claws. You will just alienate your cat if you scream at it constantly - but do tell him "NO!"-, so buy a scratching post or allow him/her to scratch in the okay spots. They will catch on - mine have!

Be aware of their special needs. We've discovered that Richie wants to know that he can get food at any time so I leave dry food down at all times and especially at night. He is much less disruptive and has stopped jumping up on the counters, now that he knows he can eat whenever he wants.

When your children are born, you don't give them away at the first sign of trouble and I think that's how it should be when you adopt an animal. Do your research and know what to expect and then deal with whatever comes up. They are counting on you!

Adopting a pet from a shelter is actually cheaper than taking a "free" kitten or finding a stray animal in the neighborhood. Our cats had been given all their shots and were spayed and neutered. The shelter was having a special and it was 2 for the price of one or something, (probably in anticipation of all the unwanted Christmas presents they'd be finding on the streets in upcoming months). We paid $70 to adopt both cats and they were all set for a year. We did take them to our vet to be checked, but that was our choice.

Before these cats, we'd had a little dog named Rolly who also came from a shelter. He lived with us for 16 years and left us in January 2009. Most of his life he lived in Florida and never really liked the cold or snow when we moved north.
I went for almost a year without any pets after he was gone, and since I now rent a house, I had decided not to have pets. My two kids saw it differently and talked me into getting a cat - which as you can see, turned out to be two. If my daughter had her way we would have brought the entire shelter load home with us!

*** This is my gray haired, 16 year old pound puppy, Rolly, on an adoption bumper sticker (below) that I made for my Zazzle store in 2008.

100% of the money earned on this page goes to the ASPCA, and the Humane Society of the United States. That means that when you purchase something through this page, you are helping homeless animals. So tell your friends to begin their pet shopping here.