Four Legged Family Members

Most of the time we humans think it is us who is doing the adopting when it comes to the pets in our lives.  Well if you ask your cat and or dog who did the adopting, they will let you know it was them that adopted you. I have always had pets in my life, during childhood it was dogs, Siberian Huskies at one point we had 7 of them.  Two of them I personally claimed as my very own, with total agreement from my parents of course, the runt of the litter was a boy and I named him Hun (short for honey), and the little girl I named Shenika (I have no idea where that name came from).  The three of us were inseparable, we played no matter the weather, whether it was warm outside or everything covered in snow, there we were playing and wrestling around. Hun and Shenika slept with me, one on one side and the other on the other side, I stayed very warm during those winter months.  Eventually, like all our four legged family members do, Hun and Shenika passed away, don't be sad, they had a wonderful full life and passed of old age, plus their memory still lives in me.  I did not have another pet until I was 17 years old and that is when I met a grumpy cat named Buttercup.  By the time Buttercup and I made our acquaintance she was 7 year old and very set in her kitty ways, meaning she would only allow you to pet her when she was ready.  Don't get me wrong she never scratched or growled at anyone in the family, she ignored guest, and we all got along wonderfully as long as her food and water bowls were full.  Buttercup and I worked on our relationship and all went well as long as I understood one thing, I could sleep in my (her) bed as long as I stayed on my side (the corner).
Once I got out there on my own it took me a long time to open my heart to have a pet again, and by the time I was ready I also had my two daughters.  One day while we ate dinner I mentioned getting a cat, I did not want a dog because I would always compare them to my Hun and Shenika and I did not want that to happen.  I knew that the moment I mentioned getting a cat I would not hear the end of it until we had one living the good life in our home.  As my girls got excited about the family addition so did I, and I knew what type of cat I wanted, gray and white with a pink nose.  One day we were out walking around our little downtown area and walked by a Petco, what is going on? a cat adoption.  We go inside, because there was no way I was going to be allowed not to go in, and talk to the head of the organization which was Community Concerns 4 Cats and she gives us a quick interview, to make sure we were serious.  She was so serious about making sure the adopted cats are going to good homes that plan on keeping them for a lifetime and keep the strictly indoor cats, well we passed the interview and were able to take a look at the cats they had with them that day.  Oh my were those kittens to cute and I fell in love with at least 8 of them, but then a foster parent came in carrying her two foster cats.  She puts them in the jump cage and there she is, my gray and white kitty with a pink nose, Shya,  and she is in there with her litter mate, Mootah.  The foster Mom gives us their story and I immediately agreed to take them both so they would not be separated, and given thorough instructions on how to introduce them to their new home, we were off with our beautiful little additions.  We got Shya and Mootah home and followed the instructions to the letter, after about a month, Mootah was not adjusting well and she was upsetting Shya, so after some serious conversations we agreed we would have to take Mootah back to the agency.  I did let the director know what was going on and she totally understood and she suggested maybe we needed to get a different kitty to keep Shya company and I agreed.  That weekend we took Mootah back and my youngest daughter had asked if she could pick out the next kitty, she always wanted an orange kitty, I agreed.  As I was in conversation with members of Community Concerns 4 Cats, she was looking intently for her kitty, and there before her was a jump cage with about 4 orange kitties in it, my daughter was mesmerized and then one little kitty stepped forward, stretched out her paw and touched my daughter nose, it was love a first paw.  The foster Mom took the kitty out and let my daughter hold her and there was no way we were going to leave without that bundle of orange fluff.  Once we got our newest baby home, she truly acted like she was meant to be there, and she and my daughter were inseparable, and that is when she officially adopted my daughter as her new mommy.
A year later we had become a foster home for Community Concerns 4 Cats and we seemed to have the magic touch with some of the more difficult kitties, the ones who where shy, scared, standoffish or did not play well with others.  They never had a chance when they came to us because we were determined to love the shy, fear, standoffishness and loner out of them, and we had the war wounds to show for it, but by the time it we were finished and they were eligible to be adopted they had changed into the most loving cats you can have.  So we became known as the foster house that gets the tougher cases.  This is how we got Lola, she was a little kitty that did not like to be picked up, and when we would take her to adoptions she would not engage people when they looked at her, which was completely opposite from the way she was at home. Lola let it be known that she had adopted us as her family and that was the end of that, so we made it formal and we rounded out our little family, three humans, and three kitties.  Seven years later and the cats run the household and agree to let us live in it with them.