Meet Elenor Hutt
Happy Hump day dearest friends
So, remember how last week (maybe two weeks ago now), I mentioned in our Housewarming Party post that we had gone to look at the FAPS because we were thinking about getting a cat?
Fayetteville Animal Protection Society (FAPS) is the only non-kill shelter in the county that I live in (at least that's what they tell everyone. I am hoping there are more shelters in our area that are no-kill.... but who knows) The way that FAPS works is that they don't do same day adoption of pets. You have to give a list of references for them to call to see if you're a good person, you have to have written permission from your land lord if you rent your living space, you have to list down your vet for them to call if you have another pet or have had pets in the past.... it's a lot like adopting a kid (so I've been told).
While I wish that we could have taken a cat home that day, I completely understand the process though. This shelter wants to make sure that their pets are going to good homes and aren't likely to be brought back or abused in any way. They want forever homes for their pets.
Lee and I (and Chey, Roger, and Brandon) went to visit the shelter on the 6th before our housewarming party. They have two separate "cages" for the cats, each with shelves lining the wall for them to lounge on and an outdoor area for them to chill in. One has "the frat house" for the young kittens (it's a multi-level shelter thingy made out of PVS pipe for them to walk around in and sleep in with doors so they can't just go outside like the older cats).
There was one cat that Lee reallly really liked, named Noodles, who looks like one of his parent's cats (I wish I thought to take pictures). The only problem with Noodles is she doesn't do well around other pets, even other cats. She literally pulls our her own fur. Lee and I are talking about having other pets down the road and we couldn't, in good conscious, adopt Noodles knowing that we were likely to adopt more pets in the future. This beautiful and loving cat deserves to live in a single pet household where she gets all the attention and no anxiety from other pets.
We decided to look at the other cats again to see if there was one that stood out to us. (We liked this black cat named Little Bit with two different colored eyes, but the one that stood out the most to Lee was this pretty cat named Elenor. She was relaxing one of the outdoor PVC structures and just watching what was going on. She loved to be petted and have attention, and got really confused when I moved something that was hanging in front of her in order to take her picture. Lee really seemed to like her and bond with her, so I knew that we had found out cat.
We put in our adoption application on Saturday and anxiously waited for Tuesday to roll around. I almost jumped up and down when I got the call mid-Tuesday that our application was approved and we could bring Elenor home that day.
She adapted very quickly to her surroundings, both in the car (she laid down about 5 minutes into the car ride and just looked around) and once we brought her home. We already had a scratching post and some toys waiting for her, as well as a litter box. She explored the house a little and was kind of all over the place for the first day.
She slept on the edge of Lee's side of the bed and was gone before we got up. She eventually started to use her scratching post/perch and enjoys basking in the sun.
She is a great addition to our little family and I am so glad that we adopted her!
She is 7 years old, and we were happy to find one that wasn't super young. We know the younger ones are more likely to get adopted and Elenor had been in the shelter for almost 3 years by the time we adopted her. She was an owner surrender because they were moving to a place that wouldn't allow pets.
She is slowly getting used to being picked up (still lasts about a minute before she wants down) and she craves attention. Like she will head butt your hands (or phone) in order to get you to pet her. She isn't a lap cat but she will curl up near you if she is comfortable enough.
Bonus: She has no issue with Lee playing the drums (at least when they are in the drum room. If they get put back in the bigger practice space that might change). She was confused at first but adapted to the (thankfully dampened) noise and was laying back in her post about 10 minutes later that first day. She doesn't even bat an eye now.
Still a spaz, but calmed down and sleeping a bit more throughout the day.
We love Elenor!
