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....

My First "Gotcha" Anniversary

One year ago today on 1/11/11, I was whisked off to petsmart in a carrier by my foster mom from the Tri-Valley Animal Rescue. Minutes after meeting a couple of strangers, I was placed in a cardboard box and handed over to them. My only familiar possessions were the two tiny mice my foster mom had lovingly packed for me.

I didn’t realize then since I was scared, but I now know how special that day was. Not only is it all “1”s, but it also marks the first day of the rest of my new wonderful life. Mommy feels the same way. Everyday she tells me how lucky she was to have found me. Daddy thinks so too, and says that if it wasn’t for him, mommy and I never would have united. In my blog entry titled “Self Introduction”, I talked about how I found mommy. So for the anniversary of my gotcha day, I will tell you how I almost missed mommy.

When mommy  moved into her condo, she got lonely. She’s always loved animals, and can’t imagine living without them. Daddy was against mommy getting a pet since her place is small, and he is sensitive to fur and noise. It makes him grumpy. They fought lots about this, and they almost broke up since mommy couldn’t see a future with someone who was anti-pets. Daddy finally agreed to let her get a rabbit, so Aunt Suko took mommy to the Humane Society of Silicon Valley to visit one of their bunnies. The particular bunny mommy wanted to meet was in the back room so they had to wait to be escorted. While they waited, they spent two hours visiting all the animals, and playing with the kittens in the playroom. By the time they met the rabbit, mommy had realized she didn’t want to settle for a bunny, she thought she met the kitten she was meant to adopt. The lady that was processing the paperwork for the kitty adoption knew mommy was scared about what daddy would think. Even though she had mommy’s credit card in hand, she told mommy that she should call daddy even though they don’t live together yet. So mommy called daddy and told him she was getting a cat. They argued about declawing and daddy hung up on her. Mommy was in tears. She decided not to adopt that day. For the next couple of weeks, mommy kept looking for declawed cats on petfinder, and sending the links to daddy. He thought I was too old, but finally approved and decided to cover the adoption fee for mommy’s birthday. I’m sure he regrets it sometimes since he can’t spend the night because of the meowing and fur, and is jealous that I get all the cuddles and kisses…. But he loves me.  Daddy plays with me lots, and thinks I’m the best cat ever. He even scolds mommy when she feeds me when he’s visiting, only because he enjoys our conversations while he prepares my dinner. I love him, and he knows that too.

Speaking of affection, mommy woke up this morning with a super warm arm. When she looked over, there I was hugging mommy’s forearm (like I hold plunko), using her upper arm as a pillow and snoring away. She thought that was the cutest thing ever. She felt bad about moving, she almost peed in bed. Hee heee heeeeee

Self Introduction

Hi, my name is Zeroichi.  Before I was adopted my name was Levi, but my new mommy didn’t like it so she decided to rename me. Mommy really wanted to name me “Ichi” because she adopted me on 1/11/11.  Daddy wanted to name me “Zero” after a character in MegaMan.  Since daddy thought mommy should get a hamster instead of a cat, she agreed to name me Zero in the hopes that he would warm up to me faster. And that is how I became “Zeroichi”.  (Don’t worry, Daddy loves me now.)

You are probably wondering why a cat like me was put up for adoption.  I originally had 4 siblings…canine and feline. When I was 5 years old, my ex-father ran into some financial difficulties, and had to choose which one of us to surrender to the East County Animal Shelter.  I was picked, since the ex-father thought that I had a higher chance of being adopted since I was declawed.  Thankfully I was rescued by the Tri-Valley Animal Rescue (TVAR) before I was given a drug overdose, and put into foster care with a wonderful family.  Since daddy threatened to declaw a cat mommy adopts,  mommy was searching for clawless kitties on PetFinder and found me. When mommy found out that I was about to move into a display cage at Petsmart Dublin for 2 weeks, she panicked. So that very same day, Mommy and Auntie Sandra left work early to drive an hour to Dublin to meet me. I went home that night. 

Going Home