Six months ago today, I brought home this little fluffy bundle! I am SO glad that I adopted her. After I lost Hypatia my dad quickly started floating the idea of getting another cat, but I wasn't 100% sold on it until I saw this cutie pie on petfinder. She was about 1.5 hours away, but we called and booked an appointment to see her immediately. She just looked so tiny and lonely.
I took this picture the day that I met her. She was incredibly energetic in her cage but calmed down for a few seconds while I snapped some pictures. My dad held her while we talked to one of the shelter staff about her history, and she climbed up his coat and got cozy on his shoulder! When we left she was fast asleep in her litter box. What a character!
Chloe and Hubble were both due for their rabies vaccinations in March so we had to schedule those before we could bring her home. They told us our adoption wouldn't be final until our vet confirmed the appointment. It was a Sunday and we couldn't call until the morning, so we stayed with Arrietty until the shelter closed, to make sure nobody else could adopt her.
We actually had a bit of an adjustment period before we got used to each other. She had a really hard time adjusting to sleeping at night for some reason. I'd play with her all day long, hoping she'd be worn out by bedtime, but as soon as I would get tucked in she'd start darting around the room in a frisky frenzy. I have no idea what happened, but after about a month or so she just magically calmed down and started sleeping through the night with me. And we've been buddies ever since!
Speaking of buddies, these two get along like nobody's business. I am so happy to have cats that like to play!! All of my other cats have barely tolerated each other, but Hubble and Arrietty are perfect little playmates. They like to wrestle and chase each other around the house, then calm down and groom each other. It's SO darn cute.
Even though I adopted Arrietty to be my cat, you can never really tell who they're going to latch onto. I adopted Hubble but he and my mom are attached at the hip now. Chloe doesn't belong to anyone, although my brother likes to pretend that he's her favorite (he's not.) They have their own personalities that don't come out until they're already a part of the family -- you can't decide which human is going to be the favorite, they do!
Luckily, Arrietty has hitched her wagon to yours truly. She waits for me outside the bathroom, sleeps with me at night and when we're going up or downstairs she actually tries to keep pace with me. If I stop for a second on the middle of the stairs she waits until we're ready to keep going. It's adorable! And if you can't already tell from the photos I take of her, she seems to ALWAYS be on my bed. Occasionally she'll venture under the kitchen table, but my bed is definitely home base. I think she just likes all the pillows ;)
She's really goofy and playful. It's so fun to watch her play with her short, fat little legs and huge puffy tail! She's also pretty smart (you know, for a cat!) Chloe does not like to play, and Arrietty knows it. She's well aware that Hubble is the go-to guy when she wants to have fun, and pretty much leaves Chloe alone. Hubble isn't quite as quick and usually experiences at least 5 failed attempts at playtime with Chloe each day.
She's a little handful of cat and our vet said she's probably full grown now so the only growing she'll be doing is width-wise ;) I know it's definitely not for everyone, but adopting a cat so soon after losing one was definitely the right choice for me. Every day I am so grateful to Arrietty for cheering me up so much and making my life happy again. She is such an adorable sweetie pie and I am so lucky to have her!
Happy 6 Months, Arrietty! :)
