In Search Of: Part One
Anyone remember that awesome show?
"In Search Of."
Great documentary from the '70's about the search for missing people, alien life, that sort of thing. Rod Serling narrated the pilot, and after his untimely death Leonard Nimoy took over and hosted the entire series which I think lasted until the early 1980's. GREAT stuff. I think they're on youtube.
Anyway, it also makes a cute title for:
The search.
Last night we began the search for a new cat.
Too soon? Not for me. While no one will ever, EVER be able to replace my Jackson, I like the idea of not waiting too long to adopt a new cat. With so many cats in shelters needing forever homes, why wait?
Besides, Jackson would want it this way.
Sophie has taken Jackson's death far harder than I ever expected her to. Like I said: they were never cuddle buddies. Yet, she cared for him, and seemed reassured by his presence. In the nearly two weeks since his passing, Sophie has been far more clingy, far more reliant on us. Days later and she is still looking for Jackson where he used to sleep. I expected her to barely skip a beat, but I was very wrong.
Sophie has also assumed all of Jackson's lap sitting duties, especially with me.
She misses him.
So do we.
I've already taken this coming Sunday off with plans to go to Tyler's old shelter, Little Shelter, in the hopes that lighting might strike twice. On a whim, however, I decided to move up the commencement of our search to last night.
Among the endless shopping malls is one that lies mostly closed and almost entirely abandoned: The Source Mall in Westbury, NY. Once home to Fortunoff, a store my mother frequented for their jewelry and housewares, the demise of Fortunoff led to the slow death of what was once a cute, if poorly designed, alternate to the larger shopping malls in the area. Aside from a few chain restaurants and a single Lord & Taylor outlet store, the mall is pretty much empty. Even the food court is closed. Now THAT is depressing. You mean, I can't even get a Cinnabon if I wanted to??
They call these "dead malls," and this mall was as good as dead.
Must make for cheap rent, because set up in one of the old stores is a full fledged.....cat shelter.
Specifically: the Pets4Luv Foundation.
Cute name, right?
Upstairs next to a still open Cheesecake Factory, an overrated restaurant if ever there was one, was the cat shelter. Far from a pet store, this was a full fledged, cage-less cat sanctuary, complete with rooms with shelves and cat trees for the cats to stretch out in, a small store up front, the works!
How adorable.
The shelter was broken into a left side, with small glass enclosed rooms with interconnecting sliding doors for the cats, a hallway in the middle, and large pens on the right side for the small number of dogs the shelter also rescued.
Running in between the rooms were staff and volunteers with dishes full of cat food.
We had arrived at dinner time.
Minutes passed without a soul asking us why we were there (is The Gap still open?) as people went to and fro, feeding the cats. On the right side, an older German Shepherd barked his head off.
"Um....who do I speak to about adopting a cat?" I finally blurted out. I was starting to get annoyed. I get it, small time non-profit animal shelters are a busy place. Too many mouths to feed, not enough staff or volunteers. Still, don't ignore potential adopters. I mean, hello, all I have to do is show these people how many fans Jackson had on Facebook for them to realize any cat would have the time of their lives in my home.
Finally, two volunteers stopped and gave us the run down on the place. We gave them the very brief version of our story and what type of cat we were looking for.
"Well, follow me into the cat rooms and let's look at the cats."
Yes, please.
Upon entering the first of the 3 large cat rooms through sliding glass doors, I made an instant friend:
"In Search Of."
Great documentary from the '70's about the search for missing people, alien life, that sort of thing. Rod Serling narrated the pilot, and after his untimely death Leonard Nimoy took over and hosted the entire series which I think lasted until the early 1980's. GREAT stuff. I think they're on youtube.
Anyway, it also makes a cute title for:
The search.
Last night we began the search for a new cat.
Too soon? Not for me. While no one will ever, EVER be able to replace my Jackson, I like the idea of not waiting too long to adopt a new cat. With so many cats in shelters needing forever homes, why wait?
Besides, Jackson would want it this way.
Sophie has taken Jackson's death far harder than I ever expected her to. Like I said: they were never cuddle buddies. Yet, she cared for him, and seemed reassured by his presence. In the nearly two weeks since his passing, Sophie has been far more clingy, far more reliant on us. Days later and she is still looking for Jackson where he used to sleep. I expected her to barely skip a beat, but I was very wrong.
Sophie has also assumed all of Jackson's lap sitting duties, especially with me.
She misses him.
So do we.
I've already taken this coming Sunday off with plans to go to Tyler's old shelter, Little Shelter, in the hopes that lighting might strike twice. On a whim, however, I decided to move up the commencement of our search to last night.
Among the endless shopping malls is one that lies mostly closed and almost entirely abandoned: The Source Mall in Westbury, NY. Once home to Fortunoff, a store my mother frequented for their jewelry and housewares, the demise of Fortunoff led to the slow death of what was once a cute, if poorly designed, alternate to the larger shopping malls in the area. Aside from a few chain restaurants and a single Lord & Taylor outlet store, the mall is pretty much empty. Even the food court is closed. Now THAT is depressing. You mean, I can't even get a Cinnabon if I wanted to??
They call these "dead malls," and this mall was as good as dead.
Must make for cheap rent, because set up in one of the old stores is a full fledged.....cat shelter.
Specifically: the Pets4Luv Foundation.
Cute name, right?
Upstairs next to a still open Cheesecake Factory, an overrated restaurant if ever there was one, was the cat shelter. Far from a pet store, this was a full fledged, cage-less cat sanctuary, complete with rooms with shelves and cat trees for the cats to stretch out in, a small store up front, the works!
How adorable.
The shelter was broken into a left side, with small glass enclosed rooms with interconnecting sliding doors for the cats, a hallway in the middle, and large pens on the right side for the small number of dogs the shelter also rescued.
Running in between the rooms were staff and volunteers with dishes full of cat food.
We had arrived at dinner time.
Minutes passed without a soul asking us why we were there (is The Gap still open?) as people went to and fro, feeding the cats. On the right side, an older German Shepherd barked his head off.
"Um....who do I speak to about adopting a cat?" I finally blurted out. I was starting to get annoyed. I get it, small time non-profit animal shelters are a busy place. Too many mouths to feed, not enough staff or volunteers. Still, don't ignore potential adopters. I mean, hello, all I have to do is show these people how many fans Jackson had on Facebook for them to realize any cat would have the time of their lives in my home.
Finally, two volunteers stopped and gave us the run down on the place. We gave them the very brief version of our story and what type of cat we were looking for.
"Well, follow me into the cat rooms and let's look at the cats."
Yes, please.
Upon entering the first of the 3 large cat rooms through sliding glass doors, I made an instant friend:
That large black male fellow almost immediately climbed onto my shoulders and would not let go. I later found out his name was Tannen, he was pushing 3 and was just a total sweetie. Kissing me, rubbing my head and hands, staying put, a feline scarf as I checked out other cats. He did seem to have an issue with his right eye, it appeared cloudy. He may even be blind in that eye. Upon asking, the volunteer did not seem to know what was wrong with the eye. Ok......minor red flag there. I'm not about to adopt from a shelter that isn't up on the health of their animals. You guys have an adoption process? So do I. I've been a cat owner for nearly 20 years, this is not my first time at the rodeo.
I reluctantly put Tanner down on a shelf and went on to the next few rooms.
In the third and final room we came across this little sweetie, Ellie:
She wasn't quite one year old and very sweet. Pretty colors and makings too, right?
With us she was as sweet as the pictures, with the other cats......not so much. As soon as she noticed that another cat had settled itself into the space she was sleeping prior to our arrival, Ellie took a few swipes at that poor cat.
Now, don't get me wrong. Pet shelters are, for the potential pets, BEYOND STRESSFUL. Imagine it from their point of view for a moment. You're in a room full of your own kind, trying to survive, trying to maintain some semblance of a normal feline life, hoping a nice human takes you home so you get out of that noisy, smelly, stressful environment.
You'd swipe too if someone took your sleeping spot.
I left the shelter not long after with an application to fill out and a dissatisfied feeling.
Honestly, no one bowled me over. No Tyler here, walking up to me confidently and choosing me. No Tiger here, calling out to me with unbelievably sad eyes, desperate to come home to cuddle with me.
Well, like I said, this isn't my first time doing this. I know what to look for and I'm not going to stop until I find it. While I have a certain cat in mind that I think will get along best with Boss Sophie, any cat owner knows what actually happens.
The cat always chooses you.
The search continues.
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