We adopted the sweetest cat this weekend.

[Misunderestimator]

And he's already made himself at home. Took me all day yesterday to clip his front claws (he's never had them clipped)... one by one over many hours. Meanwhile, my thighs and hands are complete wrecks of scratches, and he's a little confused when he tries to climb my wingback armchair, but he's adjusted amazingly. He's 10 months old and a beauty. The woman who was fostering him was so happy that someone finally adopted him that she was crying when we left. Partly because she was happy, but more I think because she had grown close to him after having him for 8 of those 10 months.

His name is Harley, but we've decided that his full name is Rufus Harley. :D

Right now he's sitting behind me in my chair while I work. Wore himself out just now playing with his toy mouse. I'll post some pics when his other mother gets home with the camera later. But for now... he looks like this one (only CUTER :D):



I love this guy!

[terrya]

1. Awwwwww!

Rufus Harley (nice name, btw) is a cutie! :-)

[Misunderestimator]

10. Here's the original Rufus...

[Skittles]

2. OMG, he certainly knew how to work the camera for that picture!

that expression just tugs at your heart!

[Misunderestimator]

3. That's just one I found that looks like him... Ours is even cuter.

(Not biased at all of course) :)

[ET Awful]

4. YAY! Congratulations on your being adopted by a cat.

I'm sure he'll take very good care of you. :P

[Misunderestimator]

11. He already is... I'm the luckiest human ever!

:D

[Heidi]

5. Congratulations, Rufus Harley,

on your fine new family! The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger says you can PM him anytime for tips on how best to train your humans. ;)

(:hug: gf! He's a beauty!)

[Misunderestimator]

6. Shhhh.... I haven't let him on DU yet... though he was chasing the pointer

on the screen earlier today... I had to stop him when he almost batted the monitor off the table. :D :hi: :hug:

[Heidi]

8. Ooooooooo, be careful if you have a flat-screen monitor.

Call Me Wesley's old monitor was one of those clunky, giant ones, thus OK for kitty play, but Ginger's not allowed to play around with CMW's new flat-screen, giant-screen graphics monitor because (we're told by CMW) that it's easily "ruined." :eyes: (Yeah, yeah, CMW, but what about Ginger's quality of life? :rofl: )

[Misunderestimator]

9. Yep, it's a flat screen. I've quickly realized that it's not a good idea

to leave him alone in here. He is FULL of kittenish devilry... but sooooooo cute.

[ET Awful]

13. You think he's bad, I found out last night that either Quinn, Althea or

both have been chewing on, of all things, the handle of the toilet. I went to flush it last night, and it felt really rough, I looked and there's little tooth marks all over it.

:rofl: The things those two will chew on . . . . sheesh.

[Misunderestimator]

14. WOW! Chewing on metal!

They must have some strong teeth! :scared:

[ET Awful]

Nah, not metal, really hard plastic

:P

[mikeytherat]

22. I wasn't planning on wall-mounting our new LCD TV,

but Tate (the Tater Tot) made it so. He had always jumped up on the old TV that was in the same place, and he tried it one day with the new TV (it was an, "Oh, SH*T!" moment for us AND the cat, but cat and TV came out unscathed!).

mikey_the_rat

[Misunderestimator]

23. Yikes.

Glad they both survived!

[Call Me Wesley]

24. But what about

Tate's quality of life? :cry:

[mikeytherat]

26. Well, he seems to have adapted OK

Here he is in the Crow's Nest (with brother Charlie planning a not-so-sneak attack)


And here he is in his sunbeam spot:


:P

mikey_the_rat

[Call Me Wesley]

30. Great pictures!

We might get one of these crow nests too. Thanks for sharing! :hi:

[Heidi]

31. I just fell in luuuuuuv with Tate.

What a man. And your wooden floors are _beautiful_. What's the wood? Please, please, please reply and tell me what kind of wood that is! :pals:

[mikeytherat]

34. The floors are southern yellow pine,

and since you were so nice, a few shots of Tate's sister and brother!

Hannah (aka Brood-hilda):


Charlie (aka Darwin):


mikey_the_rat

[Heidi]

36. What a beautiful family!

But I have to admit, I can hardly take my eyes off of your floors. Being so close to Italy, the floors in our home are terra cotta stone tile (a b!tch to keep clean), but my new studio will have a floor of natural larch-wood. I'm a _huge_ fan of wooden floors. Thank you so much for the photos. You have a gorgeous family (and the Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger agrees. :hi:)


The Wiley and Excellent Boy Cat Named Ginger (and Call Me Wesley)

(Edited to change a word from French to English.)

[Misunderestimator]

32. What a perfect spot for one of those!

How sweet!

[MissHoneychurch]

7. Congratulations

you will be now a slave. Be prepared :D

Looking forward to the pics of him.

[Misunderestimator]

15. I have so missed having a cat overlord.

I've been literally lost without one. :) I'll try to take pics tonight.

[MissHoneychurch]

17. How long have you been without cat?

[Misunderestimator]

18. Almost a year.

I miss Otis so... but he belonged to my ex in Florida, so ... I had to say goodbye when I left there. This is otis:

[MissHoneychurch]

19. He is a beauty

no wonder you are missing him. :hug:

But now you have your own seetheart. I am so happy for you

[Call Me Wesley]

12. Congratulations on your new cat!

And what a name, Rufus Harley (is his surname 'Firefly'?) ;)

[Misunderestimator]

16. Now that's a good idea. :)

But conveniently, my surname works really well with his, so I think we're sticking with it.

[Arugula Latte]

20. Aw, he's so gorgeous.

And I'm sorry about Otis. I have my own Otis -- however, he looks more like Mr. Rufus Harley.

BTW, you know what they say about cats? One is good -- two is better!! Hows about a little friend for our boy R.H.? }(

[Misunderestimator]

21. LOL! Give it time.

I'm waiting for his other mother to stop sneezing. :D

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. Awww...what a cutie!

Welcome to the family RuHar!

I'm picking up my baby girl from the vet tonight, sans teeth. It's only been 24 hours, but I miss her already.

[Misunderestimator]

28. Sans teeth?!?

Say what?

[Beware the Beast Man]

37. She has periodontal disease.

We had the periodontal "pockets" fixed around the gumline of her teeth a couple years ago, but that was not effective. Now she must have them all pulled to stop the yuckiness in her mouth. To top that off, we found out she had been shot twice before we adopted her. See this post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=4849844&mesg_id=4849844

What a rough life. :cry:

[Misunderestimator]

38. Awwww. She's so sweet.

That just breaks my heart that someone could shoot her. How old is she?

[Beware the Beast Man]

39. She's at least 6 years old.

Her medical record dates back to 2000, but she may well be older.

[Misunderestimator]

40. So I guess this means she'll be eating only soft food from now on.

Is she home yet?

[Beware the Beast Man]

41. Yes, she's home.

She got to keep her eye teeth, so her smile is still intact. :)

She's resting right now in her usual spot under the bed.

[Misunderestimator]

42. Oh yay! I'm so glad she's back home and still has some teeth.

My little newbie kitty is in his "usual" spot at the foot of the bed upstairs, waiting for us to retire. Sigh... It's nice to have cat spirit in the house. :)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

27. congrats

[Misunderestimator]

29. Thanks, pryanka!

:hi:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. kitty adoptiun is very special!

:bounce:

[redwitch]

33. Tabbys rule!

Your home will be the happier for having a tabby in it, congratulations to all. Especially Rufus Harley!