Ozzy

After our failed cat adoption of Oliver last year, we figured that we’d be a one cat household until Lucy died. She wasn’t welcoming to Oliver so we figured she wouldn’t be to any other animal, but we couldn’t get the thought of adding to our family.

I contacted the Animal Humane Society (AHS) and talked through the option of fostering, adopting a kitten, or staying a one cat home. I knew that kittens were often welcomed into a household better by an older established cat, but I didn’t want to find ourselves in a spot where we would need to re-home or return the kitten. I liked the idea of fostering, but also didn’t want to use it as if I was testing out an animal.

After some family talks we decided to give a kitten a try. Riley and I were still open to fostering (instead or in addition), but Jesse suggested we start with a kitten. Luckily, soon after we discovered that the AHS had a bunch of kittens ready for adoption so Riley and I went for a visit to check them out.

I should back up here and say that I was not eager to adopt a kitten. I think they are cute, and sweet, and delightful, but it seems that everyone wants the kitten. I want to check out the adult cat that might be a little forgotten. Plus, kittens can be exhausting and I’m a ‘ cat sleep on your lap all day’ kind of person.

When I’ve adopted in the past, I don’t intentionally look for a cat with a certain look, but most of my cats have been black and white, with my favorite cat being a tuxedo cat. So I was sort of happy to see that a couple of these kitten’s wore tuxedos. We were torn between Tux and Mouse - tuxedo brothers, of course, and I texted Jesse to see if two cats would be ok. He stopped me from bringing home all the cats, and Tux went home with us that night as the 5th member of our family.

Side note: a couple months later we went to visit AHS, as we sometimes do, and saw Mouse there! Turns out he had been adopted, but returned for kitten like behavior. Sigh. He was being adopted while we were there, but if he wasn’t I’m fairly sure that we would have taken him home as well. Jesse even seemed to be on board with that idea.

Tux, or Ozzy, as we’ve renamed him, has been with us for three months - today being his official fifth month of life. He’s such a funny guy, and sweet, and well behaved… and most importantly, Lucy tolerates him. They aren’t best friends, but I’ve caught them sleeping next to each other a few times. Lucy isn’t a fan of being attacked and she lets Ozzy know that, but for the most part there is peace and quiet in our home. It was a risk, but is one that has been paying off every day.

He’s grown from a little two pounder to close to six, and his eyes have changed from blue to green. He loves sparkly balls, and goes nuts when you fling hair binders across the room. We often call him Ozzballs, Ozwald, and Ozzy Doodle Ding Dong. He mostly sleeps in bed with us through the night and we can’t imagine our home without this little guy. Welcome home, Ozzy Doodle.