As you all know I lost my precious Dominique just a few days ago. I miss her terribly and am crushed by her loss and the way she died. I cannot stop crying.
This afternoon, I had to attend a function at our local shelter. I didn't really want to go, but my hubby works there and it was kinda required. It was a recognition thing for volunteers. I spent most of my time ignoring the official proceedings and hanging out in one of the cat rooms.
Our shelter is a sea of black and white adult cats. They are the hardest to adopt out around here. The color pattern is very common and everyone wants a different color or a kitten. I spent most of the afternoon holding black and white cats, crying into their fur.
My husband said that when I am ready we can bring home another cat. I have already decided that it will come from the shelter and be black and white. I can't replace Dommers. I could adopt every cat on the planet and never replace her. But there is a very empty spot in the house. This is an 8 cat family. 7 just feels wrong. I expected that Dominique would be here for another 10 years at least. No cat will fill the hole in my heart, but I know I could love another and they will find their own place in my heart, for their own reasons.
There was one cat who kept following me around. Everywhere I went, there was Boots. When I held a different cat, he sat by my feet and stared at me. When I went outside, he came into the outdoor cat run and meowed at the fence until I came and sat beside it. He's very affectionate and friendly. He's about three years old, was found as a stray. He likes other cats and has been neutered.
This is his picture, stolen off the Humane Society website.
I have been thinking about him all day. He's been at the shelter for a few months. It's no kill so he's not in any immediate danger, but there has been no interest in him.
I can not go through this again. We do not know and will likely never know how Dominique got out. However, we are making some changes to try and ensure this never happens again. I thought we had covered all the bases before, but we are going to reinforce some things. We are adding more fencing around the cat run--the dogs can't get near it now anyway, but we are going to add a second fence. (this will be done tomorrow) We are going to add an arctic entry to the front door of the house. That way if a cat got out one door, they would only get into a small porch and be stopped by the second door. We already have one on the other entrance. All the screens have been reinforced and secured again (there were no open windows that night, but I'm paranoid now). Essentially, we are going to make a dog free zone immediately surrounding the house. So if a cat ever does escape again, they have a safety zone.
So after all that rambling, do you think I should bring Boots home?
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