DEBORAH CROMBIE: Some of you may remember that when my friend Gigi passed away suddenly early last September, she left two cats and three dogs that needed rehoming. We volunteered to take Ella, her fifteen-year-old tabby, thinking we would give this elderly girl a nice calm place to wind out her years. Boy, we were in for a surprise!
Although we have certainly given Ella a relatively calm and very comfortable new home, she is in no way ready to snooze away her twilight days--or at least only part of them.
She is a devil cat! Those of you who are cat owners will know that introducing a cat into a household with two resident cats can be tough. We took it very slowly, first keeping Ella in our guest room in the big dog crate, then giving her the run of the room, and then out into the house. There is no going back at that point! We plugged in pheramone diffusers that are supposted to help calm cats, and we think those did help. There was some hissing and spitting but the three tabbies never came to actual blows, and now seem to pretty much ignore each other. (Ella and Jasmine the German shepherd were just fine from day one.)
What we didn't expect was that fifteen-year-old Ella has the energy of a kitten, and that she is into EVERYTHING in the house. And from the moment she was free to roam, she decided that she is queen, no argument allowed. Our cat Yasu always had the spot between Rick and me on the sofa at night--no longer. Ella has the house schedule down pat and will there waiting for us. Poor Yasu can't get a paw in!
Here is Ella napping in her favorite spot on the sunporch sofa while I write, a kitty muse. Lucy usually takes the basket chair, and Yasu will be upstairs on our bed.
But the thing that we really didn't expect was that Ella is the DANDER CAT. We've lived with cats for years, and although I'd read that some cats caused more allergies than others, we'd never had an issue with it. (If our Hallie ever comes to visit, we'll have to put her up at our daughter's catless house!)
If you pet Ella, or let her get in your lap (her prime objective in life) it's time to get out the allergy eyedrops and the anihistamine.
Have any of you who are cat owners ever experienced this?
Excuse my while I go and rub my eyes...
Dear Reds and readers, do you have any success stories with taking in cats or dogs that needed new forever homes? (I think I could safely say that Ella considers her story a success!)
