It's a boy!

 

I won't be handing out cigars, but we have a new boy in the family...

 That was our first view of him - he snuggled up against Joan when she lifted him out of the cage.  We were immediately smitten.  He is a rescue from the AZ Humane Society.  The name they gave him is Bonito... it means "handsome boy."  I'm probably biased, but, he is.  He has not been with them long enough to know that name, so we are free to pick whatever name suits us... and him.  We're working on it.

That photo above doesn't give you an idea of what he actually looks like.  If you are thinking: "He looks like Rufus and Izzy had a baby," I was kinda thinking the same thing.  He has the angular face like Izzy, but more the color of Rufus.  We weren't trying to recreate either of those great cats.

If you're in the mood, here's the story: yesterday, we went to the AZ Humane Society, which is less than 4 miles from our house.  Just to look around.  Some animal shelters are sad places, this is very nice.  We spent a little time with 2 girls and a boy.  The girls were one year old and 3 years old; the younger one was a gray tabby that is our style; the older one was a longhair tortie.  Neither were particularly affectionate.  The boy was a lighter gray shorthair, 5 years old.  I thought the 3 year old female just might be going home with us.  When we asked to see her again, someone else was spending time with her (you get 10 minutes with each cat)... yes, the decided to take her home.

We were happy for that kitty and the mother and daughter who carried her out.  Looking through the AZ Humane Society website, we saw this boy - he is being kept at the PetSmart in Old Town Scottsdale.  They start allowing you to see animals for adoption there at 11:00 - we were there this morning at 10:40.

Interestingly enough, that particular PetSmart has, unbeknownst to us, two locations in the store for shelter rescues.  We went to the area that kitties are kept in every other PetSmart we've been in, and they had... no animals.  Someone was cleaning the glass on the cages.  I asked that young lady about Bonito and she said, "We have no cats - we had a real run on them this week."

I asked, "Benito is gone?"  The nice lady at the Humane Society near our home told me that they update their website at least twice a day, and Benito was still there as of last night.  After further questioning (she wasn't going to give the info up easily), we found out that the Humane Society adoption area is at the other side of the store.  We hustled over there and were third in line to speak with someone.

When it was our turn, we asked about Bonito; the young lady said, "He is a sweet boy - you can go into the cage area and take him out if you want to."  Normally she would be the one to take him out of the cage, but she was holding a chihuahua and couldn't take the dog into the cat area.  It isn't a big area, so we looked at his photo outside the cage, and Joan opened the door and took him out.  That's the photo at the top of this post.

He was immediately snuggly.  Joan gave him to me, and... more snuggles.  He made good eye contact.  Not a big skittish.  We agreed that this is our new boy.  My first thought: he is long and thin - built like Izzy.  The Humane Society doesn't have much info on him, just that he was returned because whoever had him was allergic.  They are calling him one year old.  I am thinking he is younger than that, but probably not much.  I think he will have some growing to do; certainly, he needs some good nutrition to help him fill out.

We filled out the paperwork, gave them the adoption fee and some additional as a donation (enough to feed another animal for at least a month).  We had a carrier that we forgot at home, so Joan went into the store and bought a nice softside carrier.  Back into the store to get a few days supply of food, and we were on our way for the drive back home.

He rode in the carrier on the way home, with Joan and I taking turns putting a hand inside.  No fuss, no noise; he has the makings of a good traveler.

We brought him into the house, got him out of the carrier and let him look around.  He was curious, but not panicked by the new surroundings.  While he explored the living room (we had the other doors closed intentionally), I prepared his first meal with us.

Some initial views...

He is a long slender boy.  He is not going to be a hefty build like Rufus.  He is bright in the eyes and face, and very alert.  He likes to play and seems happy be by us.  I think he is going to fit right in, but we are taking our time to not overwhelm him.

After we had some time with the three of us in the house, Joan texted Steph to let her know it was OK for her and Dan to come over.  This boy was not concerned about new people coming in, and warmed right up to Steph...

Being social is important, as is not being afraid of new situations.  So far, so good.

Now, we need to decide on a name.  Bonito is not a bad name, but a bunch of others were offered up: Rupert (an obvious nod to Rufus), Rocco, Ranger, Jet (I heard his name pronounced as Benito... which made me think of Benny... which made me think of Benny and the Jets... which, well, you get it), and others.  We'll work on that.

The first order of business is to make him feel comfortable in his new surroundings...

I think he is doing OK.  It has been a big day for all of us; he isn't the only one who is tuckered out.  If you look close at that photo above, there is a shaved belly.  Seems that someone thought he was a female when it was time for neutering - they figured it out after shaving his belly (but before any cutting).  That was done a couple weeks ago, so the belly fuzz is just starting to grow back.

There is a bit of a ruff happening around his neck.  The Humane Society is calling him a "longhair" - we'll see if and how he fills out over the next few months.