Yes, le chat est arrivé. I got him yesterday from the ASPCA shelter in Brooklyn. I want to thank J. for driving me through 3 boroughs to make this happen. We went first to a private shelter in Queens, but they said there had to be a home visit before they let you have an animal. I can probably get a kid in half the countries of the world without a home visit, but the lady was very nice and gave us the address of the ASPCA shelter. It didn't have that requirement and unlike her place, they do 'put to sleep' unadopted animals, so bringing an animal home really is saving it.
They had about 30 cats. Some are strays, some the owner moved or died. You can take home any cat that has been spayed/neutered, provided it's been 48 hours since they were brought in - that gives any owner of a lost aniimal, a chance to claim them. There were quite a few people coming in looking to get pets-I guess for Christmas, and while we were there, I saw the police bring in a couple of animals. The staff was very nice.
Higgs (as I call him) is a 2 year-old stray, and I liked him as soon as I saw him. I opened the cage and pet him - and decided right there. We had got there about 2PM, but couldn't take him until 5:30 - that's when his 'hold time' expired. So I filled out the paperwork and we went to find some late lunch.
We came back at 4:45 or so, and he was still unclaimed. Yesterday morning at the Union Square Petco, I bought a litter box (more like a palace), litter, and scratching post, so I was set. The shelter micro-chips the cat, gives you prophylactic cat medicine, cat food, and the cat - all for $10.
He was pretty feisty about getting the micro-chip in him - several people had to have a go at holding him down, and the first chip went flying across the room. They asked me, "Are you sure about this one?" I was pretty sure we were going to hit it off. Besides, the 'rap sheet' on his cage said his disposition was "friendly" and I didn't blame him for being tetchy.
He was well-behaved in the travel box as we drove through heavy Brooklyn traffic. I wasn't sure how he'd react or his house-breaking, so when I got home, I moved everything into the bathroom, closed the door and that's where I let him out. The bathroom is warm, so I had him spend the night there. Turns out he's totally housetrained, and in the morning, I let him have free run of the apartment.
The video at the top is when he first got home, and the 2nd about an hour later.
I thought of naming him CatOS, and yes that's a hilarious network pun, but decided to call him "Higgs" - in honor of the elusive Higgs boson; the fundamental particle which is is believed to interact with other particles to give them mass and is being sought with the Large Hadron Collider. Not only will it take slightly less explaining, his ability to hide himself within my apartment makes it seem particularly apt.
Thanks! but it's all him. All we did was give him a ride.
Posted by: PBK | December 28, 2009 at 01:02 PM
Higgs is great!
Posted by: Zoe Barracano | December 27, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Agreed re rules for animals. Less rules/test for animals, more for having kids.
Posted by: PBK | December 26, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Cute cat... We lived for years on University Campus' and when we wanted a cat we opened our door and the first one that came in was our new cat (we got Monsieur Bob and Wilbur Wildcat that way.)
We now live in the exurbs and when we want a cat we open the door and first one that comes in is our new cat (we got JP Rockenheimer that way.) It never ceases to amaze me the control people want to put over adopting pets. It isn't like they are scarce commodity they are everywhere.
I like cats as companions, although to be fair my wife mostly deals with the biological side of them. I mainly skim the cream of human cat interaction.
Posted by: Jahnke | December 25, 2009 at 09:37 PM