Feline Friday-Asia and Miko

For quite a few years Asia has been asking for a dog or a puppy. I always treated it like a request for the newest clothing or fad item: with a grain of salt.  Asia has never exhibited the behaviors of a “dog person.”  Asia has always been a “cat person.”  She’s always been so much of a cat person that I’ve joked that she is a kitty cat herself.

When Asia’s cat, ET, passed and when to the bridge, Jae seemed sad.  He seemed to be looking for his sister in the usual places that she was known to nap.  He checked under her favorite pieces of furniture and like the sometimes creepy, “I see dead people” cat that he is, often just stared as if he really did see her.

We decided to adopt a cat for Jae.  Boo Kitty was too old and disinclined to play with him so we figured a younger cat would do well in the household.   This would be a first for us since all of our other cats were “homegrown.”  I started checking out the local animal care and control website and found the cutest little tuxedo cat that I wanted to meet.  He was just adorable, and so off Kevin and I went to meet the little guy.  Upon arrival we were taken into the kitten room to check out the inhabitants, of which there must have been well over a dozen.  Kevin sat on a low stool and I grabbed a prime spot on the floor to check out the prospects.  The little tuxedo kitty, whose name in my mind at least was Oreo, was indeed a cutie but neither Kevin nor I made a connection. 

While I was looking at Kevin and talking to him I became aware that a silky haired purr machine was on my lap with his front paws on my chest and he was sniffing my nose while I was absentmindedly petting him.  He was so friendly and curious.  Another great feature was that he was more of a juvenile, one of the older kittens being nearly six months old.  He jumped right on Kevin’s lap when called and apparently the three of us had made a mutual choice.  We wanted Captain Paws.  The volunteer went to look for his paperwork and found none.  Either he was that new to the facility or he was spoken for was the first assumption.  I started crying.  She looked again and found the paperwork so that we were on our way to giving a home to our first officially adopted cat:  Miko.

The first few days at home, Miko and Asia spent the majority of the time in Asia’s room watching cartoons and letting the other cats smell the new inhabitant through the door.  Because of this, Miko began to act as if he and Asia were both the new cats in the house, having been adopted on the same day and acclimating in the same room. To this day, I think he still believes that.