Well we brought Jasper home with us about an hour and a half ago now and it's as if he's been here for years!
We had a good look at and met Lottie who was the girlie who I had fallen in love with at the NCC branch visit a few weeks ago and unfortunately she attacked both OH and I and has been assigned a key worker to help socialise her as she has been attacking all the staff and cat cuddlers too. She was very pretty and I would have been willing to take the time to sociialise her but I and the adoption centre staff had concerns about the way she would be with my boys so we knew she wasn't suitable. I hope she finds a loving home soon and that her socialising training goes well. Adoption centre staff also feel that she's be going to be an only cat when she does find a home. Staff are also a bit concerned that she may be a bit poorly as she has been especially grumpy this week. We also saw lots of golden oldies who were lovely but I think my Rufus jumping all over them would drive them mad.
So the search went on and the last cat we saw was the grogeous Jasper... who was purry and headbutting us as soon as we met him. He's a young lad of only 6 months so just the right age to mix well with Rufus who is 5 months and Oscar who is 20 months. He was very playful at the adoption centre and staff explained that although he's never lived with cats before, he hasn't been at all fazed by the cats he has had in the pens around him.
So we signed the paperwork, gave our donation and brought him home... I had prepared the spare room for him and as I came through the door, I was going to sneak him upstairs but the boys appeared and came rushing up to him. All 3 cats were sniffing each other and seemed really relaxed and happy so I left him in the pet carrier with them for a little while and all the positiveness continued. Normally I wouldn't get a cat to meet them so quickly (have taken weeks in the past!) but it felt so good we took the lid off of the cat carrier and just ensured we were ready to move if there was any hissing or grumbling and.... well, it was great! All three cats gave each other the onceover then Jasper started having a sniff around and about 10 minutes later, Rufus and Jasper were playing happily which was lovely to see and then a bit later on, I saw that Jasper and Oscar had gone to sleep next to each other.
I'm going to get Jasper to sleep in our spare room tonight and make sure the cats are supervised when they're together for the next couple of weeks but it has been an amazingly easy and positive start.
And now, meet my handsome boy....
