Getting Real With Wanda Morrissey
Last week my husband and I packed up our swim gear and our son and headed to my in-laws to visit for the day. They live in cottage country and have a property with beach access. It was a really hot day so we thought we could have a nice visit while we all sat by (or in) the lake trying to stay cool. Before changing into swimsuits and heading to the water, my mother-in-law suggested that we all go into town to have an ice cream cone while sitting by the locks and watching the boats. So, that’s what we did.
We parked the cars and walked the block to the ice cream parlour. We had to walk past a wine shop to get to the ice cream parlour. There was a big sign in front of the wine store and several posters taped to the windows announcing “FREE KITTENS.” We went inside to look. In a large box were two of the cutest kittens I had ever seen. The owner of the shop told us that the mother cat had wandered through her back door one day and when she went to shoo her out she noticed five kittens. She’d been caring for them and would like to keep them but had no room. She was going to adopt momma cat but first she had to find homes for the kittens. Three had already been adopted leaving the two before us.
I looked at my husband and he looked at me and we both said “Do you want one?” It was something we’d been talking about. Up until last fall, we had two cats but the older one was sick and we decided to have him put down, leaving our younger cat without a friend. It took us about 5 seconds to decide to adopt one. We let our son pick which one, he chose a grey male with beige markings, we put him in a box and took him back to my in-laws. We let him roam one of the bedrooms while we went to the beach as planned.
Once we got home that night, we put the kitten, now known as Max, into the bathroom for the night. That way our other cat could get used to his smell and Max could get used to the new smells around him. We knew our other cat wasn’t going to be happy about the new addition but we also knew she’d get used to it just like our other cat had gotten used to her. When we let Max out the next morning, he promptly took over. He made himself at home right away and Maggie (our other cat) went to sulk.
It’s been a week and Max has become a part of our family, it’s like he’s always been here. He seems to really like our son, he follows him around and sleeps in his bed at night. Maggie is adjusting to having a new cat in the house. She stopped sulking after two days and I even caught her playing with him when she thought no one was looking.
What’s even better is my son is taking an interest in Max. He wants to help care for him. We had Max to see the vet and he had a slight eye infection and some ear mites, common cat problems with easy cures. My son wants to help put the drops in Max’s eyes and ears, and he wants to help feed him and play with him. They are so cute together and my son is learning responsibility without even knowing it.
Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering, we did get our ice cream cones that day.
