Back Story

I had been considering getting a second cat off and on for a few years because (a) I like cats and (b) my 7 year old cat Kiki had been getting more neurotic with age due to severe separation anxiety; in other words, she needed a companion.

I knew that Kiki could eventually get along with another cat because she had during previous cat-sitting experiences. So in October I started seriously weighing the pros and cons. After a month and a half of deliberation and lots of discussion with friends, I decided to plunge in and get a second cat: the 2 weeks I had off at the end December seemed like a good time to to do it.

I knew that I didn’t want a kitten – as cute as they are – because I didn’t have the time or the space for such an energetic little beast (I have a 400 sq ft apartment). I also decided not to go with the city pound or the SPCA as cats are, sadly, kept in cages: I feel that this doesn’t do a lot to show a cats real personality and there aren’t usually a lot of employees/volunteers available that know them personally. So I started looking into the Victoria animal rescue organizations.

Before searching for a new kitty, I got Kiki a vet checkup and her booster shots from Pacific Mobile Vet (a house call greatly reduces the stress placed on a cat by a vet visit). The vet recommended Dee’s Orphan Kitten Fund as a reliable rescue organization for adoption.

Candidate #1 at Dee’s
Cortez was very sweet when I met him and seemed like a good candidate at first, but then it turned out that if he didn’t have a full dish of food he would eat anything, including plants, string and paper. I have a number of lush tropical plants, and I work from home half the week and have desk strewn with papers… so I had to say no to poor Cortez.

Candidate #2 at Dee’s
I was looking forward to meeting Simba, but she was adopted before I could meet her. And Shumba looked good online, but when I talked to his foster mom I discovered that he was very keen on getting outside; so keen, in fact, that he had scratched marks into the door: my second floor apartment with no deck just wouldn’t do.

Dee’s didn’t have any more cats suitable to my situatation so I decided to look elsewhere. I decided to try Cats Cradle Animal Rescue who had a wide variety of cats.

Candidate #3 at Cats Cradle
I emailed Linda Holton (the first name on the list of contacts) and explained my situation. She immediately suggested Remy. I met Remy and found a shy and stressed out, but very cute boy with a lot of potential. A week later I went back to pick him up and bring him home.