Yesterday morning we went to Penticton and spent the morning running errands and shopping for groceries and supplies. At lunch time we drove a few miles south back towards Keremeos, stopping in Kaleden for lunch at Frog City Café & Linden Gardens, a botanical gardens and "healthy" restaurant Joanne had been to this summer with her women's luncheon group from Riverside RV Park Resort. We had a lovely lunch.
After lunch we drove back into Penticton to shop for my present for my upcoming 55th birthday. I vowed that we would only shop, but not buy yet. Well ... what can I say ? ! ?
We spent a long afternoon at the South Okanagan / Similkameen BC SPCA animal shelter. Say hello to Sully !
Sully was the oldest cat available for adoption at the shelter. He is a 13 year old Applehead ( body style ) Lilac Point ( colouring ) Siamese. And he is absolutely gorgeous !
Initially Joanne stated that she didn't want a Siamese cat. Neither of us is particularly fond of the little wedge shaped face, big eared, skinny bodied, loud mouthed traditional Siamese cat. But until yesterday we weren't aware of the Applehead Siamese. Applehead Siamese have a thicker, slightly chunky, slightly hefty, "robust" body, like a "regular" cat. Sully is cream coloured around the chest, neck, shoulders, and rear haunches. His upper body fades from cream to grey / brown from the shoulders to the tail. His "points" ... ears, face, feet, and tail, are grey. He has, of course, a large, round, apple shaped face with small ears and delicate whiskers. His hair is short, but thick and lush. His eyes, of course, are deep blue. He's beautiful !
Sully came into the animal shelter about a month and a half ago as an "owner surrender". His owner was moving to a place that wouldn't accept cats. We suspect that was a seniors' residence. Sully is a healthy, beautiful, obviously well cared for and loved pet. But he did very poorly at the shelter. He wouldn't eat. He was very depressed. He had to be kept in his own cage within the "open environment" cat adoption wing of the facility. He was very unhappy being within the uncaged "general population" of the cats in the shelter.
We spent a long time at the shelter. We looked primarily at the few "senior" cats available. We also looked a few younger cats that the shelter staff were very motivated to have adopted. A few had been very ill. A few were having a lot of difficulty adapting to and accepting life within the shelter, as Sully did. But Sully and an old female named Julia were the two who most desperately needed a "second chance". The old cats are rarely adopted. Just a day or two earlier the shelter had to euthanize an old fellow named "Papa S" because he just completely gave up on living within the shelter. Sully was nearing that point as well.
We had vowed to shop only, not buy, because we wanted to return to the shelter with Bo to ensure that our choice was dog friendly. But I carried Sully in my arms down the dog adoption wing, and stopped at each kennel door. At each kennel door the dog inside would jump up and bark with enthusiasm ... "take me home, take me home". Sully was not fazed by having large dogs bark in his face through the door glass. We took him outside for a walk on a leash. He was calm and well behaved. I mauled and manhandled him in a way that could be quite irritating or scary to cats. He took it in stride. Our final concern was his ability / willingness to travel. No way to really check that in advance, but based on what we had seen of his demeanour so far ... ! When the shelter's closing time approached, we took a leap of faith, and adopted Sully.
The shelter was so grateful that we were adopting such an old cat, they made us a special offer. Buy Sully, get Julia for free. HA HA HA ... no, thanks. So they reduced Sully's adoption fee by half. Hey, Sully ... you're beyond your "best before" date. HA HA HA HA HA !
We still had more shopping to do. We left Sully in the truck for about half an hour, three times, while we went into stores. He did just fine, snoozing in the truck while he waited for us. On the one hour drive back home, he behaved wonderfully, unrestrained in the truck, mostly sitting on Joanne's lap looking around. WOO-HOO ... Sully is going to be a wonderful traveller ! ! ! Our final concern put to rest. Well ... not quite our final concern. He still hadn't met Bo.
When we arrived home, I took Bo for a walk before he had a chance to see Sully. When we returned to the trailer, Bo was very eager to greet Joanne as we had been gone for the whole day. And ... HEY ... A CAT ! ! ! Bo approached Sully with way too much enthusiasm. And Sully, with the wisdom of age and experience, immediately recognized that this little dog might be annoying, but not threatening. He stood his ground. He didn’t flee, he didn’t lash out with his claws. But yes, Sully does have a big Siamese voice. He loudly howled in Bo's face. Bo recognized this as "BACK OFF", and immediately complied. Whew ... our last fear was put to rest.
Sully sat in a corner, wary for a short time, then began to explore the trailer. Bo followed him around, sniffing at his back end. Sully accepted this with no problem. Soon Sully found what he has evidently been missing a lot. Two pillows to lie between ! He spent much of the evening snoozing between the pillows on our bed, looking very contented. He spent the night sleeping between the pillows, cuddling to our heads and faces.
Welcome to our family, Sully. And Happy Birthday to me !
DSK
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