Choosing Baxter
*You can read the second part of Baxter's adoption story here.*
In the Fall of 2013 we started to get The Fever. Kitten Fever. Several times a week I would search through hundreds of cats on PetHarbor.com and PetFinder.com looking for the perfect kitty to add to our family. Our perfect cat couldn't be just any cat. See, we have Scrubby, a 16 year old neutered male cat who thinks he's human. Likely because he never had a cat mama, but a human mama who took him in as a newborn (spoiler alert: that human mama was me). So naturally we had to consider our cat-human and his feelings about adopting another cat-cat. We needed a girl because we didn't want there to be 'territory' issues. We wanted a kitten because our Old Man is set in his ways and we thought it would be easier to introduce a young cat into our family. We wanted a kitten because our cats are 100% indoor cats and we wouldn't want our new baby to already have a love for the great outdoors, constantly making a break for it on trash night.
Baxter was none of those things. This is the first picture* I saw of Baxter. My first thought was, "Look at that gorgeous creature!" He was a beautiful cat but he wasn't what we thought our family needed so I skipped past him and kept checking every day for new kittens at the shelter.
A side note: Check back to hear about Baxter's adoption photo and the amazing work that photographers are doing for shelter animals everywhere. *Picture credit to TylerDog Photography.
A good friend of mine works at the city shelter. Mandy began sharing another picture of Baxter on Facebook and that's when I found out that he was FIV positive and they were having a really hard time placing him. As days went by, the shelter staff worked harder trying to find him a home before his time was up. My friend continued to share his picture along with the fact that he didn't have much time left. I kept seeing the comments, "I really wish I could take him but..." And I was one of those people. "I wish I could take him but we've got Scrubby...".
Baxter was making his way into my heart whether I could take him or not. I joined Mandy in her efforts to find Baxter some humans to call his own. After several days of sharing his story, he still hadn't been adopted and it was really eating at me. I could not stop thinking about this cat. Then one morning I suddenly knew with absolute certainty that I was supposed to adopt Baxter.
'How sick is an FIV cat, really? Could the cat have a decent life or was he already dying?' As I laid there in bed arguing with myself I started to run through all of my possible options. Could Scrubby get a vaccine to protect him from contracting the virus? Was there a vaccine? How was this transmitted from cat to cat? Could they share food and water? A litter box? And how sick is an FIV cat, really? Could the cat have a decent life or was he already dying? "What are you doing?! You're crazy!" I told myself. Self answered back, "Yeah, I'm a lil crazy. But not about this."
I knew I didn't have the luxury of taking my time to make a decision and wait for myself & I to come to an agreement. So I got online and did some fast research. There was a vaccine. And Baxter really did have a chance at living a healthy life despite the virus.
I started poking my husband to wake him up. He opened his eyes and blinked as I was right in his face. "I want to take Baxter," I told him. "Okay..." he said slowly, trying to wake up. I wondered if he thought I was crazy, too, so I launched into sharing my new found knowledge, making my case before he could tell me I was nuts. "Okay," he said, "Let's go meet him." Oh, how I love that man of mine! John completely understood my craziness and he was on board!
I left a message for the adoption coordinator that afternoon. Tiane called me back that night. After business hours. This is how dedicated the staff is at this shelter! Everything was set. We would come out to the shelter the next day at noon to meet Baxter.
