Black Doggerel

Cat polishing: I made Cassie a Catster page.

Opened the bedroom door and the dogs and I trooped in. Spike was tight as a coiled spring, the tips of his ears vibrating with cat-love, and Squish kept wanting to yap in happy excitement, but they lay on the bed with me and behaved. Cassie hissed when we came in the room, and sat on the windowsill making her indescribable growly/grumbly/whiny/complaint noise at the dogs. I've never heard a noise remotely like that come out of any feline. I'll have to get her to do it near the computer for you before she gets too used to the dogs and gives it up.

We lay there for a while, the dogs being good, although Spike's bright-eyed fixed stare never left her, and I talked in random soothing sentences, making a point of using her name, stroked her, stroked the dogs and yawned a lot. Cassiopeia fell silent and I saw her silhouette behind the curtains relax and her ears come forward, though she showed no sign of leaving the windowsill.

Stayed like that for a while and then trooped out with the dogs. Will leave her in peace for the night.

HOLY CRAP, I HAVE A CAT!!!



Her name is Cassiopeia. She's the cat I posted about here.

I'd pretty much given up on the idea. I asked DNC (Downstairs Neighbour Couple) if they'd heard anything a few days back, and they hadn't, so I figured the owners had found her a home or something.

Well, apparently not, because when DNC went to the Conservative Club last night, she was unceremoniously handed to them. No cat carrier, no litter tray, just a loose cat. They kept her overnight, but their yellow dingo dog Buster doesn't like cats at all - apparently there were ructions. So - just as I was typing a comment to my last entry - there was a ring at my doorbell.

Holy fuck!

We've done some rudimentary introductions - me sitting on the couch holding Cassie while the boys sniffed and stared at a respectful distance. She clawed hell out of me at her first sight of them but after a few minutes she understood they didn't want to eat her and relaxed a little. She kept up the most amazing yowly growly noise the whole time, but she wasn't intimidated and she didn't seem to want to kill them. I think this is going to work.

Eeek!

It's really way too soon to post this. I'm scared I might jinx it for myself. But I told cottonmanifesto and now I wanna tell everyone because it'll be so great if it happens...

We may be about to have our own cat!

Was talking to Downstairs Neighbour Couple with the miniature Dingo this afternoon and I happened to mention how much Spike wanted a cat and how I was looking out for one that needed rehoming. And they told me they knew someone at the Conservative Club who's moving into sheltered accomodation who needed a new home for an eight month old cat. Not only that, she's a BLACK AND WHITE TUXEDO CAT. And she's used to being an indoor-only cat, and she's apparently been introduced to dogs before and got on all right.

I can't imagine anything more perfect. I've been wanting a cat for the longest time; only I felt it needed to be a youngster. I didn't think it would be very fair to take a cat used to a dogless household and free access to outdoors (whether one approves or not, it's the norm for cats round here) and force her to adapt to being indoor-only and coping with Spike in her face to boot. A young one that's never been an outdoor cat will cope much better, don't you think?

I've lived with my Mum's cat Maisie before, which is how I know how badly Spike wanted one of his own, but I've never been responsible for a cat myself before. At least half my f-list has cats so PLEASE tell me anything you think I might need to know, which are good books to read, and which are the best LJ cat communities to join? I've had a look at cat_adoration, but that's more about showing off pretty kitties than the nuts and bolts of keeping them happy and healthy.

And cross your fingers for me, too. I want this cat to be my cat.