Is it opposite day?

I left work early with a headache today, came home, had a nap then with Kiddo in tow we went to the city pound.

After last week's disappointing experience at the SPCA, I was bracing myself for similar at the pound. In fact, it was absolutely the opposite. The staff member was very happy to see us, personally introduced us to each of the cats available for adoption and then told us about the kittens. She did tell us which cats would be best to avoid (alas the very pretty white one was also somewhat of a crazy hide-in-the-corner type) for us once she learned we had another cat and a child but with a completely neutral attitude that assumed we would know best. It helps, probably that they have policy that you can bring the pet back if it doesn't work out within the first two weeks.

I had already looked on the web, so I had an idea of what pets were available (but I expected the kittens to be adopted pretty quickly). In fact, the one we had seen online was still available. We filled out an application, were approved right away, and we signed all the papers (and paid all the fees).

Meet Minnie:

a.k.a. Min or Minimum -- the counter to our current cat Max, whom we also call Maximum. Why, yes, we are dorks. She was happy to be handled and very sweet but oddly camera-shy (I'll soon change that). She is still a bit young to come home; we should be able to pick her up Tuesday or Wednesday next week then she will go back on the 9th for a little nip and tuck and the first of her shots.

Before then, we have some kitten proofing to consider... even tougher than baby proofing because babies don't jump. Wish us luck.

We just wanted a cat...

Ever since we moved in, we've been discussing the idea of getting another cat -- a younger cat to keep Max company.

So on Friday, we visited the local SPCA where we found a couple of cats that appealed to one or the other of us and we went to the desk to ask about taking the cats out of their cages. The staffer at that point spent 10 minutes talking us out of those cats and suggesting others. Fine, we took that under advisement and went back to look at other cats.

One I liked seemed to hate Hubby -- hissing and batting at him; one he liked hissed and yowled when I approached. So we looked at slightly older cats and found another couple of potential pets. Again, the staffer talked us out of them, spending so much time talking us out of taking -- well, pretty much any of the cats, that we ran right up against closing time for viewing.

I understand that the staff probably have a good idea of each pet's temperament -- and this was not the first time we had selected a shelter animal -- but she seemed overly concerned with the fact that we had another cat and a child. We knew going in that there was every chance that the visit would not result in our getting a cat but we never expected to be so dissuaded. It was very disappointing.

On our way out, we did take a peek in the small animals area -- two chinchillas, a rat, a couple of guinea pigs and a LOT of rabbits. I wonder if they would have talked us out of those too?

[photo by MendocinoAnimalCare]