As most of you probably already know, Sean and I have had to make a difficult decision regarding our cats. We have four, but we decided that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved to find new homes for two of them.
Not to be melodramatic, but it was one of the hardest choices I’ve had to make in a long time. I’m one of those pet owners who feels very strongly that if you choose to take on the responsibility of owning a pet, you should be prepared to have them for as long as they live. The trouble was: two of our cats were just not that happy. Iris and Gabby both get kind of picked on by the other two cats, plus, they don’t even care for each other very much. We’ve tried and tried, including putting one of them on anti-depressants, but the tensions just have not eased over more than two years, and their unhappiness has led to some behavioral problems (including peeing on the bed, which is a whole hellovalotta not-fun to deal with). We knew the move would be stressful, too, and that it’d be exacerbated by having more animals. Marv and Emma absolutely love each other, so they can be of comfort to each other, but Iris and Gabby would have been left out; the combined stress would have likely led to even more issues and fighting and hissing and chasing and hiding. We just couldn’t do that to them.
So, we decided it would be best to find new homes for Iris and Gabby. We actually decided this about two weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to blog about it until now without bursting into tears. Gabby just went to her new home last night, and even though it was really hard, I feel like it is the right decision. Gabby is now living with her new mommy, our dear friend Diane. We feel it will be a perfect match, because Diane is so gentle and patient, and Gabby is really shy at first around new people. In fact, Diane was one of the few people Gabby would actually come up to and sit on whenever people came over to visit, so we already knew Gabby felt comfortable around her. I just read a quick blog Diane posted this a.m., that Gabby had done some exploring last night after we left and Diane had gone to bed — she even hopped up on the bed and gave Diane a few head-butts before hopping back down to explore again. It makes me feel good to know she’s in a place where she can be the only cat, and not feel threatened by the others. It is still hard to think of her as not being my kitty anymore, but if it has to be like this, I really don’t think we could have found a better place for her. Plus, I have the added bonus of having given her to a friend who I’m sure will keep us updated on how she’s doing.
We’ve actually found a new home for Iris, too. Jerry, a guy I work with, has been looking for a new cat for he and his son for a while. Their long-time cat died about a year ago, and they’ve just recently started feeling like they were ready for a new one. They’ve been looking around at the shelter and various cat-rescue places, but once he found that we had a cat we were looking to find a new home for, he started asking about Iris. The more I talked with him, the more I realized he’d be a really terrific match for her: he’s a total cat-fan, and he loves cats with fun, companionable personalities who are chatty and playful — which is exactly the sort of cat Iris is. Plus, he does not already have other animals, which was ideal: Iris has been the low kitty on the totem pole for too long. She is the sweetest most adorable creature, but whenever one of the other cats was around, she’d wind up getting picked on until she would slink off to hide. When she’s able to be by herself and play and have fun, she just shines. So, we’re probably going to move Iris over to Jerry’s this weekend. I think giving Iris up will be even harder for me than giving up Gabby: Iris and I have always had this special connection, I just adore her. But as I said, Jerry really seems like he’d be the perfect owner for a cat like Iris, and if she’ll be in a place where she can play and relax and not feel picked on and be the sole recipient of the adoration of two cat-fanatics … well … that’s what I have to keep remembering.
Dammit, I totally adore these cats. It kills me to be giving two of them away. It’s made the move just that much harder, thinking of losing them. Knowing you’re making the right decision doesn’t always make things any easier. Time is the only thing that can do that.
