We wanted to share our story with you, and to express our
thanks for making our happy ending possible.
We
adopted Maggie (formerly known as CeCe) in April '05, at
the age of 10 months. My husband had disliked cats all of
his life, but had finally given into my daughter's begging
and pleading. My children and I came to the Kitty Cottage
to fill out an application and take a look around, never
expecting to find our cat that very day. CeCe won us over
immediately with her sweet and affectionate personality,
and was so adorable that we knew my husband would fall in
love with her too. We brought him over to meet her, and
they seemed to hit it off pretty well, given his
reservations about cats. She had just been spayed, after
being rescued from the pound, and we had to wait a couple
of days to take her home. According to her history, her
first family had given her up because of allergies.
Looking back, we can only imagine what she must have gone
through in those few weeks, but it could not have been
easy for her to be put through surgery immediately
after having been abandoned, and then going through
her recovery without her family around. Then, before she
could even adjust to life at the Kitty Cottage, she was
taken to yet another new place to live, and even given a
new name. She hadn't even gotten her staples out of her
tummy yet when we brought her home.
We had a bit of a bumpy start, with some litter box lapses
that were determined by the vet to be caused by stress. My
husband surprised everyone with his attitude. We expected
him to be angry about Maggie's accidents, but instead he
felt badly for her and wanted to help her feel more
secure. We were determined not to give up on her, and
with some time, patience, lots of TLC, and a little
behavior modification, her accidents have become a thing
of the past. She has even acquired a baby brother; a
kitten named Noah that we adopted in June from the Kitty
Adoption Team, just after Maggie's first birthday. He has
turned out to be a great companion and stress-reducer for
her, and probably one of the best things we could have
done to enhance her life with us. As you can tell from
the photo of the two of them relaxing on the windowsill,
they get along beautifully, and could even pass for mother
and child. Noah was the runt of his litter and is very
tiny. Maggie is also petite, at only seven pounds, so
they will definitely look like littermates when he's fully
grown. Being around Noah has made Maggie become more
cuddly, since he is a real lap kitty who can't get enough
of being held. The best part is that Noah's adoption was
initiated completely by my husband, the former cat-hater.
It's now official: Maggie has successfully wrapped him
around her little paw and turned him into a cat person!
We can feel that Maggie is becoming more and
more comfortable with us each day, and that she will one
day come to trust that we will never, ever leave her.
Every time we take her somewhere in the carrier, and then
bring her back home again, she is one step closer to that
trust. We hope she will forget the trauma of being left
at the pound, but in the meantime we'll continue to shower
her with love and attention, and we'll be forever grateful
to the Kitty Cottage for saving the life of our very
precious girl.
We
adopted Maggie (formerly known as CeCe) in April '05, at
the age of 10 months. My husband had disliked cats all of
his life, but had finally given into my daughter's begging
and pleading. My children and I came to the Kitty Cottage
to fill out an application and take a look around, never
expecting to find our cat that very day. CeCe won us over
immediately with her sweet and affectionate personality,
and was so adorable that we knew my husband would fall in
love with her too. We brought him over to meet her, and
they seemed to hit it off pretty well, given his
reservations about cats. She had just been spayed, after
being rescued from the pound, and we had to wait a couple
of days to take her home. According to her history, her
first family had given her up because of allergies.
Looking back, we can only imagine what she must have gone
through in those few weeks, but it could not have been
easy for her to be put through surgery immediately
after having been abandoned, and then going through
her recovery without her family around. Then, before she
could even adjust to life at the Kitty Cottage, she was
taken to yet another new place to live, and even given a
new name. She hadn't even gotten her staples out of her
tummy yet when we brought her home.