Choosing Mei Mei

It has now been almost three weeks since this black and white ball of fur joined our family and turned our lives upside down. Heh.

She's awesome. She's a total mess. She's loving. She's skittish. She's cuddly. She's a jumper. She's super playful. She's exhausting. She's crazy curious. She's like a toddler. She's into EVERYTHING. She's killin' me - LOL!

Months ago, I had it in the back of my mind that January might be good time to bring a new cat into our lives. The thought of bringing a new cat into the house around Christmastime with all my trees and decorations made me break out in a cold sweat. No way that was going to happen. I knew we would be staying at home this year for February winter break. I wanted several months of bonding time before we have to leave her for a few days (which will be for spring break). And it would give us almost an entire year to get used to a new kitty before Christmas came around again.

 I still wasn't sure I was ready for it though.

My intention was to get a cat through the local shelter where we lit the Chinese lantern in memory of Asia. About a week before looking for cats, I went to the shelter website and looked at pictures of several of their available kitties (they didn't have many).

One of the cats that they had listed was 4 year old tortoiseshell named Scarlett. She looked just like sweet Asia. I gravitated to her immediately.

And funny story - when I was 15, my parents got an orange tabby kitten. We were told by the woman we got the kitten from it was a girl. Come to find out a few weeks later, the kitten was actually a boy. We originally had named the kitten "Scarlett," thinking he was a she. No kidding. (We ended up naming him Alex instead.)

I thought that was my "sign." Maybe this shelter kitty was supposed to be my new cat. A tortoiseshell. A cat named Scarlett that I never had. It was a sign!!!

So, my plan was to go look for cats on a Saturday - when Doug and Bri could both go. I checked the site each day leading up to that Saturday (Jan 24) and Scarlett was there every time I looked. It was the first time since Asia passed that I was even interested in looking at kitties. 

That Saturday rolled around and I went to the site again. I saw that Scarlett's picture had been removed. She had been adopted and my heart fell. They only had three cats to look at that day and they were all boys. I just wasn't feeling it. But I had promised Bri that we would go look at cats that Saturday, so I had to keep my promise. I told myself that maybe Scarlett wasn't the cat I was supposed to have. She was just the catalyst to make me realize that I was actually ready for a new cat in my life.

We decided to go to our local PetSmart and look there instead. (I did tell Bri that if we didn't find a kitty that we all agreed on, we may come home that day without one.)

We walked to the cat section of PetSmart and there was a family in the viewing area meeting some of their kitties. There were probably 6 or 7 cats in cages available for adoption. My eyes actually went to Mei Mei right away. She was the one rubbing her head against the glass.

I saw that she was a year old and her name was "May." And then we saw the sign in the window that said "May" was the cat of the week...

I don't know why, but in my mind, I thought "Mei" instead of "May." Pronounced the same - just spelled differently. Mei is a popular name in China. And then I remembered that Mei Mei meant "younger sister" in Mandarin. How perfect is that?

I decided to express that thought to Bri. Out loud. Which in hindsight was a very STUPID idea. Because immediately she grabbed on to that thought and wanted Mei Mei from that second on. Even before meeting her. 

There was a family already in the viewing room and they asked to see Mei (and a couple other cats). They looked at Mei for a little while. But they finally exited the room and decided to think on it. Mei was put back into her cage.

Doug, Bri and I were finally allowed to go into the room - and it was soooo small. And there was a lot of activity going on at the time. A lady was dropping off some new kittens and then another family was allowed to come into the viewing area at the same time as us, so it was a bit chaotic. It was really hard for us to get a good feel for the personalities of the cats. We asked to see "May" first. They had a cat perch in the room and Mei Mei jumped on it. She was rubbing our hands and seemed very sweet. She played a bit too - which is what Bri really wanted (because Asia never really played with her). We asked to see two other kitties that seemed very sweet too, but Bri wasn't feeling them at all. She wanted Mei Mei. And she started getting tears in her eyes when we were looking at the other cats. She wanted Mei and that was that.

I asked some questions to the girl that was working there about "May." I asked how long she had been there. She said a month (but according to the paperwork, Mei had been at a rescue shelter for months before going to PetSmart). Mei Mei had been at PetSmart the longest out of all the cats there. I asked her why. She said "People really want kittens, and there have been a lot of kittens coming through here lately." I didn't want a kitten. I wanted a cat at least a year old. (I'm pretty sure now that is why "May" was the cat of the week.)

So in a matter of minutes, I was filling out the paperwork and taking "May" home. The family that had come in while we were in the room meeting Mei Mei went home with one of the new kittens that had just been brought in. That PetSmart girl was right - people want kittens.

I snapped this pic of Doug right before leaving with Mei Mei...

The one thing we weren't used to was a cat that didn't scream bloody murder the minute we got in the car. Asia hated - I mean HATED - car rides. It was like you were cutting her arms off. Mei was totally fine with the carrier and the car ride. It was a new world for us.

We got her home and stuck her in our guest room to let her out of the carrier. She had been in a cage for a very, very long time and I didn't want to overwhelm her. Her very first medical record was recorded in May of last year. Which is why I think the shelter called her "May." So, she was caged for at least 8 months.

Walking into this new atmosphere, her eyes were like saucers...

I took a couple of things out that I already had for Asia. Mei went to Asia's perch right away...

After a little while, we let her walk around the house a bit. She really liked the stairs...

After walking around for a LONG time, she finally calmed down and was able to rest a bit...

The rest of that first day went pretty well, but she was checking out every~single~little thing. I put her in the guest room for the night because she wasn't close to being ready to roam the house after being enclosed in a cage for so many months (and unfortunately, she's still not ready - she's still a little troublemaker!)

It was the next day that I started to freak out. I watched Mei Mei pace around the house for 3 hours without being able to calm herself down. I didn't know if it was her personality or her fear that was keeping her from calming down. She was getting into everything. Jumping on every surface in the house. She didn't seem like she was going to be a cuddle cat at all. And that was my wish for Briana. A cat that would love and cuddle with Briana and not just tolerate her. I thought - she isn't a match for us at all. This cat is a hyper mess. We made our decision too fast! I want my Asia back!!

I called my mom and told her how unhappy I was. I told Doug and Bri if Mei Mei didn't calm down by the following weekend that we might have to consider re-homing her or giving her back. It broke my heart saying that, but I was feeling desperate. Doug and Bri were very supportive of my feelings and agreed to wait and see.

Doug finally said to me "Just lock her up with me in my (home) office and take a breath. Walk away for a while." Mei finally calmed while with Doug and took a nap. I calmed a bit too.

That first week was kind of rocky. But as the days went by that first week, Mei started getting more loving and cuddly. She began to trust us and started letting her guard down a bit. Even before the week was up, I realized that Mei wasn't going anywhere. She was slowly working her way into my heart.

So that is how we got her and how it all started. In my next post, I will talk about how she is meshing with our family now.

She's come a very long way in three shorts weeks. :)

To be continued...