Cooper

As many of you may know, I've been kind of looking for a ragdoll cat. I think Trinket needs a companion of her own, and I've always liked the looks and personality of ragdolls. They are cats with puppy dog personalities, and that seems like something that would fit in with the rest of the menagerie.

Thursday I saw this guy on Petfinder.com and called about him. They had named him "Chatter" because he's a little bit of a talker, not bad, but he likes to tell you stories. Chatter had been found as a stray and picked up by a rural animal control. They kept him for whatever amount of time they do for their owners to claim them, but nobody ever did. Nor did anyone adopt him, which shocks me, because he's truly the most stunning cat I've ever seen. I guess it's "kitten season" so all the cute babies get adopted, and the adults are "throw away" animals. He was scheduled to be put down on Tuesday, May 26th, but lucky for him, and for me, a rescue came and got him out of the pound. Two days after his scheduled euthanasia I saw him on Petfinder, two more days after that, I made the 97 mile trip to Rochester MN to pick him up and now he's a member of our family.

I had filled out the adoption forms on Thursday night after I spoke with the person at Camp Companion who told me I was the first to inquire about him. I was told to try to be at the PetSmart at 10:00am because that's when he would be there and since he's so beautiful and a purebred ragdoll, they thought he would be adopted pretty quickly. So, I left my house at 8:15 Saturday morning to make the trip. I took Harvey's kennel so I had something to put him in if I did end up falling in love and adopting him. When I arrived at 9:57, I went over to the adoption area and saw a crowd of people around one of the little cages, and saw that inside that cage was Chatter. I went up to the adoption volunteer and asked to see Chatter. I was told that he was not up for adoption anymore, and that someone had finalized his adoption last night. In my mind I was thinking "Oh hell no! I didn't drive almost 100 miles to be told this...if I have to I'm snatching that cat and running for it!" I told her that I had put an application in on Chatter on Thursday, and was told I was first in line for him. She asked if I spoke with anyone on Friday. I said I hadn't. So told me that the adoption was finalized on Friday, so if I hadn't had any contact with them, that it was likely not going to be me adopting him, but she said she would call Michelle because she didn't know the name of the person they adopted him out to. So, of course they called Michelle and she didn't answer the phone. In the meantime I took Chatter into a visitation room to play with and pet him, only to find out that he's the biggest sweetie. One of the volunteers came up to me and said, "I still can't get a hold of Michelle, but I just remembered something she told me about the person who she is adopting him out to. Do you have dogs?" I told her I have two. She asked me what type I have, and I told her that I have a greyhound and a poodle/terrier mix. With that, I won the kitty lottery, because Michelle told her that he was going to a home with a greyhound! :) Yay me! So, I paid the $90.00 adoption fee for him, loaded him into his carrier, and headed out for my 1 1/2 hour drive home with him. He lived up to his name Chatter with the drive. He meowed constantly. After about an hour, I let him out of his carrier, and he rode in the car like a pro, and was nice and quiet.

We got home and I set him up with food and water, and a litter box in the basement, so he could settle in a little bit before being exposed to the whole gang.

Once he was set up, I went to make a phone call, and noticed our home phone had 3 messages on it. I'm terrible at checking my home messages. I figure most people who need me just call my cell phone. The second message was from Michelle from Camp Companion on Friday telling me she had called and spoken with my vet, and after a glowing report about how well I care for my pets, and Dr. Hedges telling her he couldn't think of a better home for a pet to live in, she was approving my adoption of Chatter. Guess I probably should have listened to this beforehand and I would have spared myself the anxiety of worrying about whether or not someone adopted him from underneath me.

I didn't like the name Chatter, so both Matty, and Diane recommended naming him after Anderson Cooper with his dreamy blue eyes. So I decided he was going to be Cooper.

So far he's really sweet and getting along well with everybody. Trinket isn't sure about him yet, but she's coming along pretty well. The dogs want to sniff him, and that's about it. He's handling it all like a champ, and is really easy going.