Meet Jasper!

As I mentioned in my last post, Brian and I made a stop in Albion on our way home from Chicago to pick up a new kitty, Jasper.  Okay, so it wasn't so much "on our way home" as it was 45 minutes out of our way back toward Chicago.  That was not the way the deal was supposed to go down.  Here's what happened.

I found Jasper (formerly known as "Gilo") on Petfinder.com a few weeks ago.  He's a 6-month-old brown tiger.  I hadn't planned on getting a new cat so soon after losing Murray, but on a whim I did a very narrow search and found what sounded like a great cat for us.  An adorable and friendly lap kitten who loves to cuddle and gets along with other cats?  Perfect!  The only downside was the he came from Mid-Michigan Cat Rescue (MMCR) in Grand Ledge, just outside of Lansing (a bit of a hike for us).  However, since my friend Kate lives in Lansing and we'd been wanting to visit her and her daughter Juniper for some time now, I thought why not go see her and get the kitten in the same visit?  I emailed MMCR and arranged to pick up the cat from an adoption event at Pet Smart on our way home from Chicago on Wednesday, December 28th. 

As we were leaving Chicago Wednesday morning and on our way to Lansing, I sent an email to MMCR just to verify that I had the correct location of the Pet Smart.  I got an email back saying that my kitten wasn't going to be there because they didn't know I was coming for him!  Clearly there was a mix-up in communication (this email was not from the person I had been in contact earlier). I was actually pretty calm about it all and after some emails back and forth (what would I do without my iPhone?!?) I arranged to pick up Jasper from the foster home in Albion.  It meant a lot of extra driving but it also meant that we could get him that day instead of driving back to the Lansing Pet Smart on Saturday.  

The foster home where we got Jasper is where many of the MMCR cats seem to live.  There were so many cats there!  We walked in the door and they were everywhere!  It was like the book - Millions of Cats - but in actuality there were only 100.  (Only, ha ha!)  Amazingly, though, it didn't smell at all like a house full of cats and all the cats looked clean and very well cared for.  I give Sarah, the woman who runs MMCR, a lot of credit for the work she does.  She obviously loves every single cat and dedicates her life to them.  I love cats, too, but I was a little relieved to take Jasper and get out of there! 

Then we made the 1.5-hour trip home.  We found out quickly that Jasper does NOT like his carrier as he spent most of the trip meowing, doing somersaults, and trying to claw his way out.  But he was purring most of the time.  He's such a weirdo.

Anyway, he's been settling in well.  He's by far the most affectionate cat we've ever had.  He loves to purr and give hugs and kisses.  He's been eating and drinking well.  I taught him to play fetch.  Zoe is getting used to him and hisses at him less than she did last week.  We have a playpen for him, which has really been helpful in introducing them to each other while still keeping some distance.  I think with a little more time they'll be good friends.

And as for me, he's just what I needed.