We Adopted A 14-year-old Cat And An 8-year-old Dog.
By: Emma Sachsse
Tags: Pets, Animals, Cats, Family, Dogs

We Adopted A 14-year-old Cat And An 8-year-old Dog.

We now live in a zoo.

I will admit that when I said we had to go to the pet store that weekend, I knew that there would be rescue dogs and puppies there for adoption. I wasn’t intending to adopt. I just wanted to gauge where we were all at. My partner has wanted a dog for a while but as lovely as they are, dogs are a lot more work than cats, so I have said no.

Then he started talking about getting another cat.

We have four cats, that is more than enough. My rule is one cat per person in the house, no more. Four people, four cats.

So I figured just looking at some dogs wouldn’t hurt.

At the pet store, we met Kitty Cat and Whiskey, a bonded pair whose owner had died. They were 14 and 8 years old, respectively. They were friendly and gorgeous. We fell in love with them, but with four cats at home, there was no way we could adopt them. We were told Kitty Cat didn’t like other cats, at the shelter she had to be in the cage with Whiskey, not with the other cats. Besides, it would break my cat to person ratio rule.

When we got home, we talked seriously about adopting a dog. We also emailed Ben’s parents to see if they might give Kitty Cat and Whiskey a home. We emailed SAHARA and let them know we were in the market to rescue a dog. We understood it might take a long time as we had cats, chickens and children and not many rescue dogs are going to be okay with all that. We explained that although we wished we could give Kitty Cat and Whiskey a home because we loved them both we understood it wouldn’t be the best fit for Kitty Cat.

A little while later SAHARA got back to us, Kitty Cat and Whiskey were still at the shelter, would we be interested? Of course we would. We hadn’t stopped thinking about them. We had been to all the rescue sites and visited all the shelters in the meantime. We hadn’t fallen in love with any of the numerous puppies or dogs available despite feeling sorry for every single one of them.

SAHARA came around for a yard inspection and saw that we do indeed have a cat-friendly environment designed to keep the cats happy and safe but also to able to hide away from each other when they want. We have high fences all the way around, topped with cat netting.

They then told us how much sadder Kitty Cat and Whiskey’s story is, after their owner died they had been fostered for a while at one place. Then they were adopted, their new forever home. After eight weeks they were surrendered. They had been in the shelter together ever since. Now we desperately wanted to give them a warm, safe home now.

And so later that afternoon we were given a call saying could you come and get them now?

We were all in the car five minutes later. It was raining and cold and we were glad we were going to be able to take them out of the concrete shelter.

That night we set them up in my study with lots of blankets and food and water. We hung out with them in there for the evening.

There were quiet all night, and there were no incidents or accidents. A promising start.

For the first few days, we spent most of the time in the study.

As Kitty Cat was sneezing a lot, I took them both to my vet. As expected because we were told by SAHARA, Whiskey was very growly and snappy at the other dogs. We warned our vet we didn’t know what her history with vets was. Turned out she was great while on the table, but when he approached her while she was on the floor, she snapped at him. He put her back on the table. Both animals were healthy, and the blood work came back clean.

After only a week they seemed to have settled a lot and seemed really happy. However, Whiskey follows me everywhere, anytime I move. When the kids and Ben get home, she must have as many of us in her eye line as possible.

The other cats are not fussed about Whisky, and she is not too fussed about them unless they run past her too fast and then she gets a little bit excited. She definitely doesn’t like it when they start getting too close when she is eating.

Kitty Cat, however, has taken over the study and refuses to let the other cats in, she chases them back down the hall if they dare to enter. The rest of the time, she loves being on a lap and purrs loudly. She is eating well now too.

After not barking in the first week (apart from the vets), Whiskey has started barking at people when they walk up the drive. Maybe she feels this is her home now?

Whisky has been trained in the past and mostly responds to our commands. Unless she is looking at the chickens. Then she hears nothing. She has broken into the coop twice but has not hurt them. She just stares and points.

We plan on getting individual training for her with the whole family. Our vet explained that we need to be careful about her snapping as she is a cross between two breeds that snap, Border Collie and Cattle Dog. We need to be especially cautious about waking her suddenly. The kids have been told what to do and have been pretty good with her and she with them.

Then yesterday, my parent’s came over, for Fathers Day, the last day of Whiskey and Kitty Cat’s trial period. Dad had been here for a little while and then Whiskey bit his hand. Between the thumb and the finger. You know, the bit that bleeds a lot? Then immediately after snapping at dad, she was happy to be patted by him so who knows what happened or why. Although he makes me snap at him too sometimes. This was a reminder that she is a rescue and we don’t know her history, and we still need to be wary and give her lots of time to settle and make sure when people come over that they are aware that she may be nervous. Rescue dogs and cats are wonderful, and we love them, but it still takes some thought, time and work.

And as for my cat to person ratio rule, well Kitty Cat is Whiskey’s cat. So the ratio is still good.

We are looking forward to many years of being a huge family of dog and cats and kids and chickens and fish together.