Re: Thinking about adopting

Thanks for the advice re leaving the cat alone.

I may not have made it clear in my first article that I was thinking 
of adopting a *particular* one-year-old male, Milo.  I saw him at the 
display in Petsmart and fell for him.

Last night I went ahead and filled out the adoption papers after I 
got to meet Milo.  He was not effusively affectionate, but after all 
he was in a strange environment. I picked him up and could tell he 
was just tolerating it to be polite, so I put him down and he did the 
head-bumping-ankle think, then flopped on his side on the floor to be 
played with. So I think we will get along.

To answer the "adult pairs" issue, he was alone in the cage.  When 
the SPCA phoned today after checking my references I raised my 
concern about his alone time and the lady said he was a very laid-
back cat, used to being alone, and she didn't expect there would be 
any problem. As one poster here has mentioned, she also predicted 
he'd probably use much of that time for sleeping.

A couple of you mentioned seeing how it goes and maybe getting him a 
playmate. If he was part of a pair I would have adopted both, but 
I'll be on the alert for symptoms of depression and if necessary I'll 
get a second cat.  Maybe I can take him with me to the shelter and 
see how he reacts to various candidates -- if and when.

Thanks too for the advice to find out what type of litter the shelter 
uses. I know cats don't like change, so I should probably start with 
the food and litter that he's used to.  I'll phone them tomorrow.  I 
have to buy all my supplies tomorrow, and then go pick him up Friday.

-- 
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
                                   http://OakRoadSystems.com
****kata ga nai...