 |
 |
||||||||
|
Philomène Her name is Philomène, Point, or Two-Tone depending on who you talk to in the Animal Rescue Network. Philo was born in a yard from a feral mom in June 1998. She was then caught and brought to the Animal Rescue Network in August 1998, hoping to be tamed enough to find a good home. Being a semi-feral, she was nervous and wary of humans. She enjoyed being petted but panicked when you tried to carry her in your arms. The shelter staff loved her but no one seemed to be interested in adopting her and so Philomène lived at the shelter for many years... On July 14th 2004, I had an appointment with the Animal Rescue
Network's adoption coordinator to meet a young tuxedo lady named
Lily I had
read about on PetFinder. But Lily and I didn't really seem to click,
and the lady, noticing I didn't seem too excited about Lily, suggested
I meet the others. Philo jumped down from my lap and went to the door. She sat on a small cat condo beside the door and waited, grooming. Meanwhile, I was meeting all kinds of interesting kitties. I met Kiwi, a very talkative and friendly medium hair tabby with interesting tufts of dark hair at the tip of her ears. I met a big black and white short haired male named something like Diego. He tempted me for a while but I saw him bullying some of the others and I didn't want to bring stress to Ronron. I wanted a laid back cat, one who wouldn't try to bully Ronron too much, one who wouldn't really be interested in being alpha cat. I also met a tiny black and white male whom I could never see coming for he was so shy, but who would love to lay on my lap if I kept the other cats away long enough. He tempted me also but I was worried Ronron would make him miserable. I needed someone who, while not looking for trouble, would be able to stand his/her ground. Then I remembered the black and white kitty who had climbed on my lap and looked for her. And sure enough she was there, minding her own business by the door. As if she was waiting for me to take her home, as if she knew she was the perfect cat for me all along and was confident that I would get her message when she climbed on me. And so I went home with a small Philo in my carrier. At that time, the shelter couldn't find her record, and so I had no idea where she came from or how old she was. She was sickly (gingivitis, horrible tartar accumulation, ear mites, conjunctivitis...) and she smelled bad. Her coat was dry and messy, she was skinny with a round and huge tummy (the vet actually thought she was pregnant). Ben couldn't understand why I had brought her home... ...until she started to blossom. And then he understood that I adopted potencial and not just looks when I adopted Philo, and he saw what I had seen. After being nursed back to health, Philo turned out to be one of the cuddliest cat ever. She still doesn't like being restrained, carried in our arms, but one can NEVER pet her too much. She is only happy when hands are all over her. She will always find a way to crawl on our laps and will sleep on top of us (not just in bed with us as Ronron, but really on top of us). It might be that she is brain damaged due to her rough start in life as a feral, but though Philo is now 8 years old, she's always acted as a 6 months old. She will run about and play and jump and be a scamp as no other cat her age could. Her coat is shiny, silky and luxurious and she has a cat shape once more. And she has the perfect attitude too, very social both with cats and people. She will never start a fight but she will hiss and bop her siblings if she feels intimidated. Enough is enough for that old lady. ;) Once again, I chose the right cat for me merely by accident. She was not what I was going for, but she turned out to be exactly what I needed. |
||||||||
