Christmas Kitty

Two nights before Christmas, we were sitting at dinner when Chris announced that he needed to go out shopping for more thing. He was very secretive and wasn't gone very long before returning with a large, wrapped gift marked with a tag for me and Leila. Christmas morning we found out that the package was full of kitty needs! We were getting a new kitten! When we had to put Quincy down this summer it was very hard to think about ever getting a new kitten but after 6 months we had started to talk about it again. Chris was still hesitant, but then he surprised us girls on Christmas morning! 

We waited until Monday, December 31st, to start looking. We had quite the time! Leila and I had been to Petsmart the night before and noticed two kittens, but they had an adoption pending. She went home in tears but I kept promising that we were going the very next morning to pick out our kitty. Well, the next morning we ventured, bright and early, to the Humane Society only to find that they didn't have any kittens! And even worse was the fact that the local pet stores that usually adopt the Humane Society animals were also kitten-less. I checked my Pet Finder app (thanks, Amanda!) and ended up calling the Puyallup Animal Rescue. The owner told me they only had two kittens at the Petsmart in Puyallup. I replied, "Oh, we saw them last night and noticed they were in the adoption process already." She then told us that they were available again and she was in the process of calling the pet store to cancel the adoption when I called her. Wow! What good timing!! We raced over to Petsmart and put in an adoption application. A whole DAY later we were finally approved! Geez! What a process. We even had a home visit from the Rescue Shelter's animal foster mom. Chris thinks it is probably easier to buy a gun in Pierce County than it is to adopt a cat! 

Anyway, we have a new kitten. As I write this, he is 3 months old now. He was called Clarence at the shelter and because he was our Christmas Kitty and Clarence is the name of the angel in one of the all-time, best Christmas movies, we kept that as his middle name. 

Meet Rudolph Clarence Kringer. We call him Rudy. 

In some of the pictures above it is hard to tell how big, or rather, how small he was. I think this picture looks more accurate. 

Rudy is one crazy kitty! He is sweet, energetic, lets Leila do whatever she wants with him, which includes pushing him in her baby stroller and LOVES to snuggle!!! Our house feels good with a cat in it again. There is something so peaceful about cat snuggles and purrs. We think Quincy would approve of Rudy's addition to our family.