No wait, that's not how the story is supposed to end. Or begin, or the middle for that matter.
So there must be a memo circulating in the neighborhood to the animals that we are the suckers. Either that or we are the crazy people that can't say no. First we go adopting 2 puppies. One puppy was planned. Have Elmer and I ever done very well with our planning?? Well maybe not, but ultimately we've been able to work through the unplanned fairly well. So we got 2 dogs. Who I will say just had their first vet visit yesterday and it went very well. (Other than the vet tech noting that I was crazy to have 3 small kids, 2 puppies and one... we'll get to that). The vet did seem to think that the pups were younger than what the shelter told us and that they are probably only about 12 weeks old right now. Either the shelter didn't accurately know, or they were trying to adopt out pups that are going to be possibly rather large. Zepp (at possibly 12 weeks) is weighing in at 22lbs. YIKES! Pancho was adopted at 12 weeks and weighed 12lbs, and went on to be about 75lbs.... And Coyo is a little runt, relatively speaking, at almost 9lbs.
Anyhow, my dad and Valeri were visiting last week. It was Tigo's birthday on the 27th and well... how could they stay away. So on the night of his birthday while we wer all sitting outside having our good times a little Ginger cat appears in our nice big Cottonwood tree. And to make a long story short, he hasn't left yet.
He slept on our back porch by the door and cried all night... for 3 days. Eventually I broke down and bought it some food because it seems like a young cat and I didn't want it to start killing the birds. (Although we have a nice falcon in our backyard who might be more likely to eat the cat instead.) I know, I know the biggest mistake you can make. But it is so sweet with the kids. Not scared of the puppies, who chase, play and wrestle with it. And it just purrs and purrs. This cat, who I though was a girl, had to belong to someone. It was too friendly to be a stray. But we've sent out neighborhood emails and knocked on doors and no one will claim him.
Then last night, Elmer had a "closer look" at the cat. And it seems that "He" is still "in tact". Not fixed. Which is pretty much a sure fire sign that he's a stray and doesn't belong to anyone. So while we planned on adopting the dog(s), that was for love and companion and to make our family grow. We also did it at a shelter to save a puppy life, and well all those other moral reasons. New Mexico also apparently has the highest animal euthanasia rate in the country. So how can I go sending a little kitty to the shelter when the kids love it and the puppies love it. But I'm a dog person. Not a cat person. And no matter what any child of mine says, ultimately I do all the care-taking. So for now, it has no name. As I don't want anyone getting anymore attached than it is. And I don't want more vet bills... and we already know he needs to get fixed before the lady cats find out how smooth he is.
But unfortunately it seems we have the 2 sweet puppies and kitty makes three.
