A few weeks ago we had to euthanize our oldest pet, a cat named Pooka. He was the only one of our pets that could be dated B.C. (Before Children), but there were a lot of developing problems. It was sad, but we knew it had to happen.
Our kids don't remember much back when we only had two cats. For most of their lives we've had three at the same time, so of course they were convinced we had to always have three cats. We weren't going to give in because we didn't feel a great need to get another cat. However, our daughter was really broken up over losing Pooka (even though she was never really close to him and he was kind of a cranky cat...she's just tender-hearted and loves animals) so to placate her we said we'd look for a new kitten.
Shortly afterwards we found a family in our home school group that had a new litter of kittens that would be six weeks old on April 30th. We looked at them two weeks ago, Elena picked out one she liked, and today we picked him up.
This is Pippin, just after we brought him home and I gave him a bath (he had some fleas). He's a surprisingly calm little guy who so far isn't really rambunctious. He's very content to lay in someone's arms or next to somebody. We were trying to come up with a good, uncommon name, and somehow Pippin (a.k.a. Peregrine Took) from Lord of the Rings came up. I've always liked that character, especially as portrayed by Billy Boyd in the movies, and the name was cute for the kids. Since our children hadn't yet seen the movies (they're 9 and 11) we watched Fellowship of the Rings this weekend. My daughter especially loved it and now is all about the character of Pippin.
The other pets aren't sure what to make of him yet. The cats have stayed away and seem mostly uninterested, though Ash did hiss once. All of that is typical when you introduce a new cat to a home. The dogs are extremely curious, though in a friendly way, and we have to watch them to keep them from trying to lick or play too rough and scare the poor little guy. The newness will wear off and the dogs will get back to normal once they realize he's not going anywhere.
All-in-all I'm happy with our choice. I know it's only been a few hours and his rottenness will likely come out soon, but it is nice to have a new addition. Who seems to be taking the changes in stride (he's sitting on my shoulder as I type) and relaxing comfortably.
