Thursday, October 20, 2016

Moving on...


As I mentioned in my previous posts, the past couple of years have been an emotional roller coaster ride for me. It's time for me to move on. A month ago, the BF and I decided to end our 8.5 year long relationship. It was a mutual but extremely sad decision that we reached due to "irreconcilable differences". Our dog gets to go to work with the BF everyday and so I decided to give up custody of him since it would be unfair for me to demand to keep him knowing he would be home alone for 9+ hours a day while I'm at work. It was a no brainer. They'll both be moving out at the end of the month.

Since the BF had never been a fan of cats, getting another cat after Zero's death wasn't really an option as long as we were together. When the decision was made to terminate our relationship, and that i was losing custody of Raiden, I went on Petfinder to find myself a new companion to help me heal. I was looking for a healthy, large, declawed, adult (2-5y.o.), male kitty, that was great with kids and dogs in case Raiden comes back to me. The kitty I ended up adopting is far from what I had envisioned, but she is exactly what I needed. <3


Meet Gimpiko 
I haven't decided if she'll get her own blog yet

Gimpiko (nickname "Gimpy" or "Piko-chan")
Gimpiko "Gimpy" (formerly "princess") is a tiny 7lb, 8 year old special needs
Main Coon with claws. She's confident and would hobble after Raiden to try to slap him. Which i'm working on with a combination of timeouts and treats for good behavior. It seems to be working. This little girl is super sweet, and seems to have been loved her entire life. But she's also had a lot of health problems her entire life as well. When she was adopted as a kitten she already had issues with her spine. When she was 6 (and about a week after Zero died), her family surrendered her to Town Cats Rescue because a family member developed allergies. She's been at the rescue for about a year and a half, and had a couple foster homes through that organization. They took very good care of her and spent a lot of money on her diagnoses and treatment. She has scoliosis, a fused spine, asthma/bronchitis, TMJ in her jaw that required PT, and removal of a bunch of teeth... among other issues. Her doctors think that most of her bone malformations are due to too much vitamin A when she was a baby. 


I wanted Gimpy to meet Raiden to make sure they would get along, and I was nervous about whether or not I can handle a special needs kitty. Gimpy's foster mom told me that if I wanted to we can do a test week. She came by last saturday and exchanged her for my application form and adoption fee which she said she won't cash in case I decide not to adopt Gimpy. I contacted her on Tuesday that I made my decision, and by Wednesday the adoption was finalized. They forwarded me all her medical records (which was a lot), and should be transferring the microchip registration to me today, along with one month of health insurance. If Gimpy needs immediate medical care, they have also offered to help out if they can. This organization is amazing, and I will be switching my Amazon Smile charity contribution to them. For those of you who don't know about Amazon Smile, it's a great way to contribute to your favorite non profit organization if you're an Amazon addict like me. 



Gimpy is seriously the gimpiest, derpiest, friendliest, drooliest kitty ever, whos meows often sound like hissing, and she contorts her face into the creepiest expressions (her face freezes all scrunched up with her tongue sticking out mid meow, and her third eyelid would randomly cover up her eyes making her look like a zombie). She makes me laugh.... a lot. She struggles to walk, and would occasionally fall over when she's trying to get up. But she doesn't give up. I thought it would take her awhile to adjust to her new environment, but within hours she was already out of her hiding place begging to be picked up and cuddled. I have a lot to learn from her. 


siblings

so much drool....