Cat Woes

I've been considering getting another kitten. I posted that on Facebook, and it sparked a flurry of replies. Well, there are a lot of reasons why I want another kitten, and I shall present them here in list form, with pictures!

• I grew up with a cat named Stripey, and he was a wonderful cat, a friendly, sweet boy.

Here he is, in his handsome little bow tie tag:

For obvious reasons, I am partial to tabby cats.

• When I was looking for kittens back in the fall, I did want a tabby. But when we saw these two cute little kittens, I just had to get them. I wanted boys (I just seem to get along better with boy cats), and I wanted two littermates, and these two seemed to fit the bill: We saw them at PetSmart, where we were able to hold them, but not really interact with them, so we were unable to put them down and see if they would come to us, or run and hide. I now know that they would have immediately run and hid.
  

• Han and Luke turned out to have personalities that don't quite mesh with ours. They're still wonderful, sweet kittens, but from whatever experiences they had when they were babies, they're fearful. When we first got them, they spent a lot of time hiding from us.
  
• It's been five months since we brought them home, and they still run away if I walk over and try to pick them up, and while Luke has warmed a bit to Elijah, Han still struggles and tries to run away if I try to hand him over to Elijah. Maybe they still need more time, but it's frustrating to have them still be afraid of us, even me, the one who takes care of them.
• They do have a lot of wonderful qualities, which is why I'm not thinking of replacing them, just getting another cat in addition to them. They're adorable:

• They love to nap on my lap:

• They're playful:

• They cuddle me at night.

(Yes, that is Han under the blankets- he keeps my feet warm.)

Elijah and I often wish that we had been able to get Luke and Han when they were younger, but their personalities would still have been shaped by whatever it was that they experienced before they were rescued. I want a cat that has a naturally friendly personality, so that he can show Han and Luke by example what we've been trying to show them and tell them since we brought them home. I also want the new kitten to be at least as young as they were when we got them (four months). At this point, I'm decided- I do want another kitten.

Elijah and I took a trip to Second Chance yesterday, to look at the cats (and dogs). They had a few kittens, but no baby tabby boys. They had a baby tabby girl, but I really wanted a boy. I pet her a little through the bars of the cage, but couldn't take her out, since she has a little upper respiratory infection. We left, since for this cat, I'm willing to wait to find one that's just right. We went back today with a friend, since she had to pick up her cat from being spayed, and looked at the kittens again. The tabby girl was still there, but I didn't get to take her out, since she's still sick. She seemed a little better than yesterday, as her right eye had cleared up, and she was a little perkier, letting me pet her head, and she even gave a little purr. I have to admit, she's growing on me. I left my number, asking them to call me when she's well enough to come out of her cage, so I can really interact with her.

We went over to the kitten room, where three kittens were out and about. There was a black kitten (but I really don't want another black kitten!), and two tiny babies that were new since yesterday, two black-and-white baby girls. Elijah was more attracted to the one with more white, but I preferred the tuxedo, mostly black one, with a cute face, long whiskers, and white paws (like my Stripey!). Still, the tabby girl held my attention.

I've been looking on PetFinder for baby kittens, but all the ones that are young enough seem to be in Phoenix (big surprise there, everything's in Phoenix). Saturday is my friend's birthday, and we were planning a trip to Phoenix anyway, so we might just add on some shelter stops to our itinerary, so that I can look for my tabby boy, unless, of course, I get to meet the tabby girl at Second Chance before that and fall in love with her. We'll see how it goes, but at the end of everything, I will have a tabby cat.