Moin friends, time for another guest blogpost day. Me is very happy to welcome my twitter friend Roxy here. She send me her adoption story, lovely pics ( and some more;). So let´s start with her story!
———————————————————
Roxy: My story begins like the thousands of other orphaned kitties in Los Angeles but I consider myself one of the lucky ones, mine has a happy ending.
To be honest, I don’t remember my birth mom too much, or my brothers and sisters. We were born on the streets and it was all my wildcat mom could do to take care of herself, much less the rest of us. She tried her best but I was always so hungry and it wasn’t long before I set out on my own.
It’s not easy being on the streets, especially in Los Angeles. I got pretty skinny and my coat was thin. I constantly had to steal food or stand my ground against the other animals I ran across. I even lost part of a canine tooth in one fight! Eventually I wandered on to a golf course. I figured this would be my new home as there were plenty of places to hide but it was easy to see anyone coming up on me. Problem was, I was still so hungry. One day, in early February of 2011, I saw some food inside a strange looking box. I snuck in but as soon as I took a bite, a door slammed shut behind me. I was trapped in a cage with no way out. Eventually a human came up to the trap. I remember him saying “you’re no possum” and he took me to the local animal shelter.
The humans at the shelter were caring and friendly. They cleaned me up and put me in a holding cage. Hey, at least it had a blanket and litter box. Plus I got fed regularly! There were about 50 other cats in the same room as me and we all got to know each other pretty quick. Every few days there would be a steady parade of humans who would come in and look at us. They’d peer into the cages and maybe take one of my new friends home with them. Me? I got looked at too but I never really hit it off with anyone. Until that day I met Mom…
Sharon: When my husband and I moved to our new home we felt a cat was what we needed to complete the household. I had in my mind that I wanted a tabby, similar to the one that my sister had so I started searching for one online. I looked through hundreds of photos and found myself wanting all of them. But when I went to see one at the shelter they were either already adopted or I didn’t feel connected to them.
Then one day I saw a kitty named “Betty” online and decided I’d go see her. The staff walked me back to the shelter and pointed to her cage on the top row. I walked up and peered into the cage. This skinny kitty came to the front of the cage and put her paw through the wire bars. I reached out and she licked my hand through the cage. Looking at that little face and those big, big eyes – I was hooked. I brought her home and named her Roxy after the music club in Hollywood.
Roxy: I felt the same about mom. The second I saw her, I knew I was meant to be her companion. There was this other guy there who wanted me and I kept looking at mom, trying to tell her “please, please don’t think about it and give him a chance”. I saw mom go off and call someone on the phone. I knew if she left I’d never see her again so I did everything I could to tell her I wanted to go home with her forever. I was so happy when they put me in her carrier! But it wasn’t long before I was hungry…
Instead of taking me straight home, mom took me to her parent’s house. They put me down and everyone just stared at me. Like I had any idea what to do! But I knew what I wanted – I wanted to eat – and I let mom and her sister know right away. “Feed me” I said but they just looked at each other. So I said it again “FEED ME”. “What’s she want?” mom asked her sister. “I don’t know” her sister replied. “FOOD. I WANT FOOD!” I screamed. “Maybe she wants to eat” mom said and they proceeded to scrounge around until they found a few scraps of meat to give me. Hey, no one ever said love was easy.
Eventually mom took me to my new home. I spent a few hours casing the place out – figuring out a few vantage points to monitor anyone coming or going, finding a few hiding spots in case I needed to escape and, most importantly, figuring out where the litterbox was. At one point I heard mom on the phone. She said, “we’ve got a cat! I named her Roxy.” “Who’s this ‘we’?” I thought. I was kind of under the impression that it was going to just be us two. A couple hours later I heard a car pull up. I quickly ran behind the couch just in case it was someone from the shelter come to take me back. But then I heard mom say “she’s behind the couch” and I saw a man with big blue eyes peer over the edge. I knew right away that this wasn’t somebody come to hurt me – it was dad. I reach up with my paw and tapped him real quick. “She’s so cute!” he said and he smiled down at me in a way I’ll never forget. Ten minutes later I was piled on top of them, purring in joy at my new home and my newfound family.
Sharon: And then you sneezed and the cutest little snot bubble came out your nose!
Roxy: Yeah, thanks, mom. Thanks for sharing that with the entire world.
(added by me – Hugi -.. “i like your #unfug MUM;)
So anyhow, I spent the next few days figuring out everybody’s routine and trying to get them to understand that there were going to have to be a few changes now that I was there. First thing I had to teach them was what they thought was their bed was actually my bed. And that I sleep wherever I want on my bed. Second thing was that when I say “wake up” you wake up. And finally, you don’t make me wait on my food. I broke into the cupboards a few times when I got hungry and helped myself if they left anything out on the counter. I’ll never live down that time when I got busted licking the frosting off a birthday cake. Anyways, I taught them that running around the house with a shoestring in my mouth meant I wanted to play and that if I gave ‘em my big green eyes, they’d pretty much drop everything and come over and pet me for as long as I wanted.
Things were going pretty well and I was shaping them up pretty quick but a couple weeks after they rescued me, both mom and dad had to leave town for a week. They took me to back to grandma’s house. Grandma wasn’t so easy to train. She was horrified that I was such a wild child and called me a “holy terror”. She would have none of my antics so she trained me to stay off the tables and counters with a squirt from the water bottle. I learned real quick and am proud to say that I came back from my stay at Grandma’s as a well behaved young girl – although I still sneak up on the counters when I think Mom and Dad can’t see me. Still hate water bottles though. Just the sight of one will send me scrambling full speed to under the bed.
I’ve had lots of adventures in the four years since mom and dad brought me home – many of which I share with all the wonderful friends and furfriends I’ve met on Twitter. From the neighbor boy Scooter to my new duties on Zombie Squad, there’s always something going on! I’ve also come to love mom and dad in totally different ways. Dad protects me and comforts me. I love to ride around on his shoulder while we explore the house together or snuggle up with him for hours when he’s watching the game. Mom is my co-conspirator and also my best friend. She takes me out on my harness for sunny afternoons in the backyard (something about the time I bolted through and open door and ran away for the night really spooked them. Apparently they’ve never heard of a girl’s night out for old time’s sake!) and we play endless games of hunting, chasing and just running around the house. I follow her everywhere and pretty much stay in the same room as her whenever she’s home. Why? Because she’s my forever mom and this is my forever home. I never let her forget how much it means to me that she found me and to anyone reading this who is thinking about adopting a cat, I can only tell you that there’s one out there right now, just waiting for you and hoping you’ll be their forever companion.
———————————————–
Some Hugi notes: Roxy is very helpful with #unfug hashtag explained!
And recently she joined our Zombiesquad #ZSHQ kitty team, so LA should be zombie safe now, great !
Blogpost not complete , will hit pawblish button anyway now, but so stay evil tuned 😉
(copyright all pics – as usual – in this blogpost by Roxy Mum , all her photos here used with her permission, please respect this! )
Your Hugo