Smokey

The antidote to anxiety and worry has arrived at our house in the form of a slightly used Maine Coon Cat named Smokey!  Smokey has spent the last six weeks, or so, in the La Plata County Humane Society shelter, where a lot of the staff fell in love with him.  He arrived at the shelter from mysterious origins and, suffice it to say, had been pretty beaten up, either by his  time on his own or who knows.  In any case, his wounds required tending and a couple of weeks of antibiotics, which, along with a respiratory infection that followed, kept him alive and well, so to speak, long enough for us to find out about him!

Last Thursday, Dan, who had seen Smokey's photo in the Durango High School newspaper, The Diablo, that morning, broached the subject of adoption midway through a glass of wine at our favorite hangout, The Office Spiritorium, at the Strater Hotel.  Good timing.  We both got pretty worked up thinking about Smokey and called the Humane Society minutes before they closed for the day.  The next morning, we arrived at the shelter minutes after they opened.  Smokey, it turned out, was in quarantine for ten days  because he had bitten an unwary visitor who stuck a finger in his cage.  So one more misadventure to keep him around long enough for us to adopt him!  Yesterday was the last day of quarantine.  We showed up at exactly 5:15 (he had to serve every minute of his sentence) to pick him up!  Wednesday, Dan picked up the worldly goods that any self-respecting cat must possess and so we were ready at home.

Smokey took over the place as soon as he walked in the door, no doubt detecting 4 1/2 year old scents left over from his predecessor and near clone, Ernie the Sailing Cat.  As of this morning, Smokey has consumed a can and a half of wet food, used the litter box at least once and had a good night's sleep.  He is, as I write, napping in the guest room chair.

I posted earlier on Facebook that our evening last night, in front of the fire and football game, was cozier and dinner (frozen pizza) more delicious because of the new addition to our family.  (Imagine what a baby is going to do in the next few days!!!)