The new kitty in my life is named Belle.  Belle was rescued by Sarah Oswalt Jorges several years ago…but as sometimes happens, Sarah’s little daughter, Layne, is allergic to cats.  I’ve thought about what if and the agony of having to give up my cats because of an allergy…I can’t even go there in my mind and think it all the way through.  But Sarah needed to find Belle a new home so we said yes.  Belle comes from a one kitty home – her..she’s older.

Belle came to us at 10:30 at night by her grandparents, Mike and Kim…I took her downstairs in her carrier so she could be immediately introduced to her litter box…when I opened her carrier, there was no stretch, sniff, look around..slowly get your bearings like the other cats we’ve introduced to the herd…this was an all out waddle for cover.  I use the term waddle to describe her overweight little body seeking immediate shelter the fastest she has probably every walked/run.  I surrounded her with a fresh litter box…her little bed, water and food and barricaded her in so she wouldn’t have to deal with the other 5 sitting around in a circle staring at her.  Among the most important pieces of information for any cat book involves cat nip.  In order to draw Belle in, I sprinkled a small amount of cat nip in her litter box…forgetting, of course, the feline sense of smell…so in order to draw the other 5 away from her, I sprinkled cat nip on the other end of the basement which was the second dumbest thing I could do.  Minnie didn’t get involved…but Baxter and Billy got into a paw swinging on their haunches after a little hit from the cat nip doobie!  Meanwhile Truman and Benny were sliding their heads along the floor, rolling in it totally immersed in their chemically induced stuper.  Well, damnit..this was not smart…so I had to sweep it all up and dispose of it so as not to bring any more trauma to the already freaked out kitty.

The next night with the cats barricaded upstairs, I was able to coax her out of her hiding place – she rubbed against my leg and let out a hardy hiss then did it again…she returned to her hiding spot not to be seen for 24 hours. 

Last night he and I took a flashlight and moved every box in the basement, looked in every crevice, and could not find her.  I returned to the basement later alone with the flashlight, she heard, saw or smelled me, started meowing and came out of hiding…I was finally able to pick her up and take her upstairs…she is now happily hidden under my sewing cabinet.  She has eaten, she has used the litter box…she has seen all of the other critters through the windows in the doors to the room.  I’m finally breathing a sigh of relief, I think the hard part is over.  I’ll post pictures in the near future.

You can never have too many cats!!!