Over the last couple of years, my mom has taken to providing a sort of retirement home for some lucky old lady cat or other - first with Seraphina, a lanky, funny black and white cat who was with my mom for eighteen years before she passed over the Rainbow Bridge about a year and a half ago. Then came Gabby, a cantankerous old calico who had belonged to my sister-in-law; when they had kids and the house got crowded, however, Gabby wasn't the happiest cat on the block. When space opened up at Mom's, she volunteered to take Gabs in. For a little less than a year, the calico lived the life of a queen - she slept with my mom, had the run of the house, and sat by the glass doors with tail twitching as she kept watch over the birds and squirrels who frequent Mom's back deck.
About a month ago, Mom noticed that Gabby wasn't getting around as well as she had been. When Brandi (my sister-in-law) took Gabs to the vet, they found that the old girl was riddled with cancer and her lungs had filled with fluid. After some discussion, they agreed that it would be best if Gabby was put down. Mom and Brandi - the two mamas Gabby loved best - were there for those final moments, cried together, and spent the weekend remembering all the things that made Gabby the extraordinary cat that she was.
It didn't take long, however, before Mom realized that she couldn't possibly live in a cat-free house. "I haven't lived more than two weeks without a kitty, my whole life," she told me the other day. It was sad to come home to an empty house, she said; sad to watch TV or work on the computer without a kitty purring at her side.
Last Saturday, I went to the Humane Society of Knox County to get some pictures of the cats and dogs and volunteers, in anticipation of my week featuring HSKC in Rescue ME. While there, I started talking to Jen - a shelter worker at HSKC - about my Mom's predicament, and asked her if she knew of any old lady cats who might need a good home.
Enter CC, a lanky black and white kitty who spent the first ten years of her life with a little old lady who treated the fabulous feline like a queen. Sadly, CC had nowhere to go when her owner passed away. When she came to the shelter, she refused to eat; Jen took her on as a special project, force feeding the girl until she finally decided that, perhaps, she would like to try living a little longer after all. For over a year, Jen has been fostering CC at her house.
"She gets too stressed out at the shelter, but she deserves a house where she can have the run of the place - and she's not exactly best friends with my dogs. She's a great cat, but right now she's just not getting what she deserves."
Today, Mom and I went over to HSKC and picked up CC. We were told that she would likely hide for at least a week, if not more, and not to expect too much of her at first. So... Here's CC, about ten minutes after her arrival at Mom's Home for Old Lady Cats:
Clearly, she's settling in pretty nicely, and hasn't shown the least bit of interest in hiding. She ate shortly after arriving, and has been happily exploring her new world ever since. Mom is already completely won over, and has begun rearranging the house in anticipation of any little thing CC could possibly want in her retirement - including a big, fluffy bed by the door, so that she, too, can pass her days watching the squirrels and birds on the other side of the glass. It seems CC has come home.
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