Fare thee well, Nelson
Monday, February 10th, 2025 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelYesterday we took the FIV+ stray we've been fostering to his new, I-hope-forever home.
It's been a long road getting here; eight months of visiting him in the garage, then the last three weeks driving across town to visit him daily at a friend's house when it got too cold to keep him (and us!) in the unheated garage. Maintaining a separate cat is a strain: a couple hours a day, every day, when everything else has to be put on hold to give him time and attention and play as well as all the usual cat maintenance. He rewarded us with love, long stretches curled up on laps, leaping after his favorite ugly-toy-onastring or grappling it around the housemate's ankles, or laying on his side and playing catch with me with his fuzzy-crinkly ball. He sniffed noses with me, and tilted his head down so I could kiss it. Even when it was a huge burden to do that One. More. Thing. and fit him in, he made us feel good once we got there.
His new humans seem great; they've had lots of pets before and even an FIV kitty, so they know how this works. And he took to their place right away, exploring the back bedrooms but also coming out to the living room where the people were. By the time we'd been there an hour and a half, he was alternating checking out the many cat-level windows with flopping on the carpet with his toys, with his belly exposed. (Of course when we were ready to leave and wanted final pets, he hid under the beds, because if we couldn't give goodbye pets we couldn't leave. Cat. We managed scritches anyway. And then he came out to the living room while we were going, as if nothing had happened.)
He wanted to be our kitty, and on some level he always will be. But now he has new humans too, and I think he's going to be very happy with them. Good journey, Nelson creamsicle turkey-butt; I'm so glad you found us when you needed us, and thank you for all the love and warmth and purrs. May the beds be always soft, the laps always warm, and the food bowl always full.
It's been a long road getting here; eight months of visiting him in the garage, then the last three weeks driving across town to visit him daily at a friend's house when it got too cold to keep him (and us!) in the unheated garage. Maintaining a separate cat is a strain: a couple hours a day, every day, when everything else has to be put on hold to give him time and attention and play as well as all the usual cat maintenance. He rewarded us with love, long stretches curled up on laps, leaping after his favorite ugly-toy-onastring or grappling it around the housemate's ankles, or laying on his side and playing catch with me with his fuzzy-crinkly ball. He sniffed noses with me, and tilted his head down so I could kiss it. Even when it was a huge burden to do that One. More. Thing. and fit him in, he made us feel good once we got there.
His new humans seem great; they've had lots of pets before and even an FIV kitty, so they know how this works. And he took to their place right away, exploring the back bedrooms but also coming out to the living room where the people were. By the time we'd been there an hour and a half, he was alternating checking out the many cat-level windows with flopping on the carpet with his toys, with his belly exposed. (Of course when we were ready to leave and wanted final pets, he hid under the beds, because if we couldn't give goodbye pets we couldn't leave. Cat. We managed scritches anyway. And then he came out to the living room while we were going, as if nothing had happened.)
He wanted to be our kitty, and on some level he always will be. But now he has new humans too, and I think he's going to be very happy with them. Good journey, Nelson creamsicle turkey-butt; I'm so glad you found us when you needed us, and thank you for all the love and warmth and purrs. May the beds be always soft, the laps always warm, and the food bowl always full.
