Nina

Oct 21, 2009

Nina is a 6 year and 8 month old black/white domestic shorthair. She was pulled off the euth list feb 2009 and given a second chance at life. She is a great girl whom we never thought would end up as one of our very longest staying cats in our program. This is her story.

Not too long after we pulled her from TLAC's euth list, she was adopted and we thought we had found her a forever home. Shortly after, though,  she was returned because her new family was moving and Nina could not come along.

I was a brand new foster and I ended up volunteering to take her as my first foster. Immediately when we got home the poor baby ran under my bed and stayed there for 3 days. She was terrified of me, my boyfriend, and my other cat. If she stuck her head out and you came towards her she would run away...if you tried to give her food she would run away.  I kept thinking about was how she must be hurting so bad - she was taken to the shelter, put on the euth list, pulled and out into some strange place, and adopted...when she finally settled in everything she had come to know was once again yanked away from her.

I knew I needed to give her time, but I knew it was best to allow her to come to me. One night at around 2 am I woke up to something touching me.  I opened my eyes and saw the most beautiful pair of green eyes looking into mine.  I knew she finally knew everything was okay and I would take care of her and find her the perfect place that would never leave her behind again. I grabbed her in my arms and w/out struggle and LOTS of purring, there she stayed the whole night. This became Nina's and my nightly ritual.

For the first few weeks I kept trying not to get attached because I figured - who wouldn't love her?!?!?! She never bites, never scratches, she's the perfect lap cat, and she will love unconditionally.  I thought she would find her perfect home w/in a couple of weeks.

Those weeks turned into a month and that month turned into 4 months...she went to adoptions EVERY weekend and even to my cattery with me on week days. What is so wrong with this perfect baby?  How could you not fall in love with her as much as I have?  She had become part of my family and I considered adoption, but the rule in my household is if we adopt I cannot foster anymore.

On October 12th I got a call from another APA! volunteer early in the morning.  Someone was interested in Nina, who also has a rabbit, and this volunteer thought that Nina would be a good match.

I JUMPED out of bed, got ready, gave Nina a bath (she really does enjoy them oddly), and rushed to Petsmart where we bought her a brand new collar and waited for the woman (we really put on our A game...I kept telling myself today is the day...and kept telling Nina "today is your day baby girl!"). When she finally arrived Nina was a bit nervous, but the woman was instantly in love!  She knew Nina was the one for her! I let her spend some time alone with Nina and secretly needed some alone time to pull myself together...I knew this was going to be hard :(

I came back and sat down and simply asked her what was on her mind...she replied "she is perfect...thank you for taking care of her for me.  She then looked into Nina's piercing green eyes and told her "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner." I was done for - I started crying my eyes out...this was too good to be true! The perfect home for Nina, but it was bitter sweet, since I had become so attached.

That very same day I got an e-mail from her adopter w/an update and a picture...Nina had already made herself right at home.  I couldn't imagine a more perfect home for her. Nina wasn't a bad cat...she just had bad luck.  Her adopter has also informed me that she does very well with the rabbit, and they've developed their own sleeping ritual!