We went to the Fairfax County shelter on Sunday and came home with these darlings.
Sean is in the front, and Jorge is in the back
They've had a rough go of it, and I am astounded at how well they are doing in just a bit over 48 hours in their new home. They were dumped in a box in a park. The person that found them tried to keep them, but had dogs and that didn't go well. To the shelter on June 9th. Sean spent most of his time hiding under a blanket until someone decided to put him & Jorge in the same space.
When we met them, Jorge was up on top of a cat tree, but happy to engage, and Sean was sitting out in the open ready for pets. The volunteer we were talking to was just gushing about Sean's improvement.
Well, my brother & I both pretty much instantly fell in love with these two, paperwork was filled out, adoption fees paid, and there was a VERY LOUD 15 minute drive home. My gawd, their car voices are something else.
Their ages are estimates from the county vet - Jorge is 8 and Sean is 7, but I wouldn't be shocked if Jorge was younger and Sean a few years older.
Jorge is very outgoing and curious, and it was a challenge to keep him in the bedroom for the first day - I just wanted them both to feel a touch more secure before they had more space to explore. He was SO damn excited yesterday when I opened the door and said "Go have fun!" He's very affectionate - loves some lap time, getting petted, and loves to give head butts. Has a squeaky little meow and a great purr. Can't have catnip, LOL - gets him too wound up and bitey. He can also open cabinet doors. (We have fixed that.) When I woke up this morning he had put himself in a headlock under my arm.
He also adores my brother and climbs all over him and snuggles with him, too.
When I let him out this morning, he spent maybe 10-15 minutes downstairs and came back up like, "Damn, it's all the same as yesterday." (Also probably disappointed that he couldn't sneak into the basement again.)
His county vet exam looked good, he'll probably need his teeth cleaned at some point, and he is a bit of a chonk at 14 pounds, so we'll be talking food plans with the vet at their meet & greet/checkup.
He is so damn pretty
So happy he willingly wears his collar and pretty tag
Sean is 7, but reminds me of a little old man that likes to sit in his rocker on the front porch. When we first got home, straight under the bed - not surprising at all, and I just let him be. But that only lasted about an hour and by 8:30, this was my boy:
He's far more reserved than Jorge, but enjoys being petted and does air biscuits. He will give gentle headbutts, and will let you rub his tummy, and we all know that is HUGE with a kitty. (And it's not the belly rub trap!) He doesn't meow so much as go "prrp!" and has a nice little purr. He was not as eager to exit the bedroom and that is fine. He did venture out a couple times last night, and this morning he did come all the way downstairs for a few minutes.
He may be a cat that is just totally content with having a good meal and a safe place to sleep, and that's OK by me - I am so happy to provide that for him. The other thing I know right now is that he is exhausted. With everything he's been through, he's catching up on a month of sleep. (Jorge is pretty knackered, too, but he's also afraid he's going to miss something.)
I do know that Sean feels safe, because cats who don't feel secure, don't sleep like this:
Zzzzzzzzzzz
And he sleeps like that pretty much all the time - stretched way out, legs everywhere, belly exposed and he is out like a light.
His health report looked pretty good, too. Odd thing is that when they came in, Sean wasn't neutered, but Jorge was. When Sean had his neuter appointment, the notes said he presented as "Attitude: Bright/Alert/Responsive & Fractious" Oh, I know what that one means! But also, he had to be so scared and stressed out, so I don't blame him. We've already given our vet the heads up on that and he'll be getting a low dose of gabapentin before the appointment to take the edge off and see how it goes.
He also has milliary dermatitis, aka, itchy bumps. They itch, he scratches, they start to heal and scab over, which itches, lather, rinse, repeat. Could be from anything - really bad reaction to fleas, fungus, bacteria, stress(!!), food allergy or "just because" - but we'll work with the vet on that as well. He's been so good about letting me go over him veeeery gently with a flea comb to get the little scabs that have come off out of his fur, and has tolerated being wiped down with some anti-dander oatmeal wipes I had on hand to keep things clean & cool and less itchy. We've got properly medicated-with-aloe-no-sting wipes coming tomorrow - no harm in it between now and seeing the vet. (I'm guessing there is some prednisone in our future.)
He even lets me wipe out his eye boogers. Also allows forehead kisses - and he gets a LOT of forehead kisses. And he has the softest fur. His collar just arrived and he let me put it on him with his pretty tag with zero issues.
Chilin like a villian
I will always miss Lily (and Carmen and alllllll the pets that came before) but these two are doing a wonderful job of filling up my heart and letting me be ridiculous in my affection to them. Feel like I've yet again hit a kitty jackpot and got the best cats ever. (Eight times in a row now, weird how it works out that way.)
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