On his Leash

Here he is nearly 5 months old, and has he ever grown. Although all our cats are Indoor, we allow them in the backyard under our close supervision. Thus the harness and leash on ole Zach here. He is still in "training". Once he understands that the total distance he can go is the width of the backyard, will he be allowed off his leash.

Our other family members know all too well that they can go outside, as long as we are out there with them, and they know that if they step one inch past the boundary we feel is long enough, they are escorted back into the allowed area.

Zachary loves the outdoors, but until he understands that he is allowed only a certain disatnce, will we try him without his leash.

We begin the journey.....

What started out as a visit to a local electronics store to purchase new batteries for our cordless phone, only to see that it would be cheaper to purchase a new phone system, we looked around and could not see one we liked. We decided to check out the competition to see if they had a better selection.

We stopped at our loal pet store first to purchase food for our guys at home. We have a few other cats, and they needed their grocery shopping done.

When we arrived, my partner went in ahead of me and by the time I made it into the store, he was already by the middle of the aisles at a cage that clearly had baby kittens. He was looking back in my direction, and had that look I only know too well.

As I approached, I was already shaking my head, and saying, "No!"...that was until I made my way to the cage. Lo and behold, I see this tiny ball of orange fur, and of course, I came to a complete halt, my eyes widened, my heart began to race, and I could feel the corners of my mouth pull in an upward direction to disclose the worlds biggest grin.

There was another couple admiring this smae little guy, and I could not wait till they would get out of the way so that my turn could be had at ticking this little wonder between the bars of the cage.

The lady that runs most of these adoptions recognized us immediately, and came running over, claiming, "isn't he the cutest thing you ever saw?"

With that I opened the cage, reached in and pulled this adorable creature out to start receiving some genuine warm hugs and admirations.

Another lady, to whom I assumed was with this particular Rescue group came over, and with a smile on her face pronounced that he had just been adopted.

I could feel my heart slump, as I and along with a group of others acclaimed out loud a very audible "Awwwwwwww". I place him back in his cage without first applying a gentle kiss to his head, and closed the gate.

This same woman saw how disheartened we were, and then stated that his "twin brother", who looked exactly the same as him, (I guess this what "twin" means?!) advised us was at another store just around the corner. Before I knew what was happening, a cell phone which had been dialed and answered by the owner of this particular group had been placed in my hand.

I spoke to this lady, who said if we were interested, she would hold him until we got there, however, they were closing in 15 minutes.

Needless to say, we ran from the store to our car, a borrowed carrier in hand, and raced to this other store. Upon arrival, I knew in an instant, after being given the description of the owner, whih one she was.

I announced our arrival to her, and she said "Here he is", pointing to what looked like the exact same ball of fur that we just left at the other place. To look at him, I thought to myself, how did he manage to get to this store before we did??? Was he EVER his twin brother.
Beth, opened the cage to retrieve him from his confinds, but stated to us that "he has been manhandled all day, so he may be grumpy." As he was lifted to the arms of my partner, he immediately stretched out face to face, and emitted the loudest purr. A kiss on the nose, and we knew right there he was comfortable with us.
Oh yes, he was going to fit in just fine; and with that, we bundled him up, signed the necessary papers, and with hugs abound, we were off in a glorious burst to bring our new found bundle of joy home to the "family".
I know they say when introducing a new member to the brood, you should separate them in a different room, and let them investigate by the sniffing at the bottom of the door to get used to the new habitant. However, we do not believe in this, he is here to stay, so everyone is going to have to get used to him right away, as he is not going anywhere.
We arrive home, place the carrier on the floor of the livingroom, and announce to the others his arrival, and to come and see.
We allow a few minutes of sniffing at the cage so they know he is here, and after about 20 minutes, we open the door and stand back.
After what seemed like an eternity, but really was only about 5 minutes, he emerges, and nervously looks around. This lasted 2 minutes, as he bounds away, and seeing his new brothers and sisters, immediately pounces up to them to say "Hello."
Welcome home Zachary, what started out as a trip to purchase a new phone, we managed to rescue another little one of God's greatest creatures, and he is within the arms of true Love.