Signing the paperrs… this service provided by Pact Humane Society. It took a while to get through the paperwork, but at this point it was all over except for buying food, litter, a collar, a nametag, treats, and some catnip toys.

PACTHumane does it all with volunteers, and they do it very well. One of the ladies tonight was a trainee – she very happy to complete her first adoption.

We are now the proud people of a really nice brown tabby cat. He seems to be settling in nicely, though he seems to have a serious catnip jones. Oh, boy, and he has a great inboard motor. We’ve already had some couch cuddling time… up to that point he had been quite frightened and tentative – typical behavior. But he seemed to realize that the couch was his, and the catnip was his, and David and I were his, and he had this moment of sudden bliss.

Very nice to have a cat in the house again. It’s been almost exactly two years, you know. Time enough.

It’s always interesting observing a cat’s body language – it’s gone from “I’m afraid, I’ll just curl up in as small a ball as possible” when I first held him to “Oh, I am LOVING this” within about an hour of getting him home. He didn’t like the small cardboard carrier we brought him home in, because I stupidly decided against hauling the big carrier with us this morning. But I drove him home with the least amount of fuss and bother after we finished all the signing and buying and information-gathering at the adoption center at the PetSmart. So he was in the little box the minimum amount of time.

He has a nice, sweet meow – not like a certain orange stripey guy of fond memory at all. Stuey’s meow was sort of rusted, and when he was really unhappy about something he’d say “ERROR, ERROR” constantly. Riley has a soft call that sounds like “Ah? Ahhr?”

His coat is soft. He’s small for a full-grown male, and his history is sketchy. He was found as a stray, but when they got him to the vet after his rescue, he turned out to be neutered, declawed in the front, and microchipped. The chip led back to another shelter, so the last people that “adopted” him evidently didn’t bother registering him, or putting a collar on him, and he flinches and runs away if we move up unexpectedly quickly from behind. I think he’s been mistreated, but he seems to be loving the attention we’re giving him and craving more.

Just now he gave David, who was gently moving up to him by crawling on his belly on the carpet, a mighty mighty head- and body-bump. Awwwww!

It’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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By: GinnyRED57

Originally uploaded: 29 Sep ’05, 12.49am PST