Farewell, Mr. Pitt

So, today I took the long drive up to Arlington to drop Mr. Pitt off* at a no-kill shelter that had agreed to take him. The last obstacle, proof that he tested negative for feline leukemia, came through yesterday.


It didn't take more than a few minutes for them to conclude this was a highly adoptable cat; less time, in fact, than it took me to fill out the paperwork.  Within five or ten minutes of our arrival, he was gone, taken off to a back room to get used to his new surroundings. After a short observation period, he'll go to one of their many adoption rooms scattered throughout King County.** I'll watch their website (which lists each cat in each adoption room, with a picture of each) to see how he does. If possible, I'll pay him a visit between his arrival at an adoption room and his finding a new family of his own, but given what an all-around great cat this is I don't think he'll have to wait long to find him some new people.

Before I left, I went by and petted all the cats in the isolation room for cats who tested positive for feline leukemia --- all of them adoptable, but only by people who don't have other cats (or whose other cats have also tested positive for the disease).*** As had been the case on my one previous visit (when I started volunteering, two years ago), these cats were very friendly, indeed desperate for attention. There was much purring. In attempting to give everybody attention who came clustering round, I found myself petting four cats at once, which isn't easy.   Then went into the ready-to-head out room and petted a few cats there as well (here some preferred to continue snoozing rather than be disturbed).

Then it was a brief visit to the office to see Cini Bon, who'd been up for adoption at the Tukwila site a while back but turns out to be terminally ill, so they've adopted her as an office cat at the main shelter, where she sleeps on desks and gets throughly spoiled while she lives out her final months. I don't think she remembered me, but she was perfectly willing to accept petting and purr in return. With her tiny head and otherwise general rotundity, she reminded me a little of Hastur (who has a tiny head, thin little legs and tail, and a balloon-like middle), except she was calm whereas Hastur is gooney.


And then came the hardest part: getting in the car and driving away, leaving Mr. Pitt behind and knowing odds are I'll never see him again.


So here's  happiness at a good ending (or the best we cd contrive under the circumstances), and sadness at a parting. I'll miss him tonight, and for a long time to come when I go down into the box room and am greeted by no friendly purring face. But I'm glad he's at a no-kill shelter, in the hands of Good People, and basically gets a do-over on a new life with a new family soon.

So, goodbye, Mr. Pitt

--John R.


*turns out the only thing that will make him stop mewing when riding in a car is to sing to him.  We did the latest Bare Naked Ladies album and some Warren Zevon ("My Ride's Here") on the ride up, and he was much quieter than on either of his rides to the vet's.

**the one I volunteer at is in the PetsMart nr SouthCenter

***a positive result does not necess. mean the cat has the disease -- it may be latent rather than active -- but does indicate it probably has a weakened immune system. And since it's contagious, even healthy cats who test positive are isolated from those who test negative.