I’ve always seen those posts on social media with a cat or dog from the shelter with the caption “to be loved is to be changed”, depressed, and the same or dog cat at home, happy. I would get really emotional seeing those posts, especially as a very huge animal lover. I come from an “adopt don’t shop” family and try to spread the word around because of the overpopulation of common house pets like dogs and cats. I wouldn’t say “dreaming” is the right word, but I was highly anticipating the day I could make a similar post. But most importantly, I was waiting for the day I could save someone’s life and treat them like a king/queen.
On Thursday, August 1st, I was glad to have the honor of taking home Loki, a shelter cat. This wasn’t solely my decision or choice, as Eileen agreed upon it and we were taking the step together. It was funny how it came to be, actually. I went to Petco to buy some night crawlers for my frogs, and I took a small peek at the cats there. The Petco I visited has a foster program with Harris County Shelter and had some cats “on display”. This helps them reach a larger audience with a better chance to get adopted, which worked obviously.
I took a picture of this extremely depressed looking cat, Loki. He’s two years old, white with a few black spots, but the white fur was yellow on most of his body. I showed the picture to Eileen and she immediately fell into a depression and wanted to see him for herself. So we did. He was still there, somber. So we went back home because we’re still in the process of buying furniture, and said “let’s wait a little”.
The next day came and we decided to visit him again because “it won’t hurt”. Well, it hurt a little more than the day before and we seriously had to consider was this happening so fast. We saw him again on Sunday because this time we were aiming to actually hold him and be able to interact with him without the glass blocking us. Luckily, he was just as sweet as we thought. He tolerated being held and loved the attention. It was time to start purchasing all the necessities for a cat.
We set up the adoption day for the last day we were expecting furniture. We still had a bed frame to build, a mattress to wait for, and barstools to unpack. The last thing we were wanting was for Loki, most likely stressed being in a new environment, to be more stressed with so much movement right off the bat. Eileen and I looked at beds, so many different dry and wet foods, scratch towers, toys. We needed to have everything perfect for the time Loki showed up in our lives.
Within the span of about a week, we traveled to the pet store probably five times. On Thursday, we officially signed all the adoption papers, and paid his adoption fee and took him home in the carrier that might be a little too small. It was hard to gauge his size, since he was sleeping all the time. We’re still amazed at how large his legs are. This is a thirteen pound cat we’re dealing with, and he’s still just a bit underweight.
As soon as we got to the apartment, he was immediately curious. We tried to start slow by letting him see the main kitchen/living room area, but he was itching to look under the doors. So we expanded and opened up the bedroom and bathroom doors for him to explore. He seemed grateful right off the bat, rubbing against us and throwing himself on the ground for belly scratches. That night was one for the history books, however, as he couldn’t sleep and kept waking us up. I woke up around ten times, if I had to guess. Our guesses as to why: his incessant scratching, itching, and licking.
We gave him a bath the next day to try to wash out the yellow fur, but it didn’t come off. In fact, the itching and scratching became worse. Luckily, we had a vet appointment that day and it turns out, he has scabies. We took him home, rubbed in his medication, and it seemed to work almost right away. But that night, although a little better, still wasn’t great for our sleep. He kept trying to scratch the new couch we bought, and refused to use the scratch tower we had.
So this leads us up to last night, where we bought him some flat cardboard scratch boards. And it seems to have worked pretty well as he’s not scratching furniture as much. This morning when I woke up, he was on the foot of the bed and I called him over to where I could pet him. He then fell right asleep by our faces, purring like a motorboat. It should be noted, he is the fastest “purrer” I’ve ever had. Two pets and he’s fully purring. It’s nice to see how truly happy he is, and I couldn’t be happier with him.
As someone who is strongly against breeding, I implore every person to look into adopting. For those in the Houston area, look into the Houston SPCA or other shelters instead of breeding or picking up strays.
Consider this my “To Be Loved is To Be Changed” post. Loki no longer has to ever worry about being put down for a shelter being at capacity, or having a lack of food or water, or no stimulation. We are extremely happy to be putting together a new story as a group of three, Eileen, Loki, and I. His official name, although he might show as Loki Hood on veterinary documents, is Loki Hood-Ellis.
Today’s cover image is Loki, now comfortable at home.
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!