Cat Magic Linus

Probably 75 % of the people walking around Maddy’s on a given Friday are not serious potential adopters. Some people just like seeing the cats, others are out of towners brought by friends. A number of people bring small children around, as if the shelter is a free zoo with smaller animals. It seemed strange to me at first, but it’s nice for the kids, a diversion for the adults, and for the most part the cats tolerate these small visitors.

Of those actually interested in taking someone home, there is also a range of behaviors. Many people have done their research on the web already. They have some specific ideas as far as gender, age and coloring, they’ve found several prospects they would like to see. They seem aware they’re going to make a big commitment. They’ll spend hours, maybe over days or even weeks, finding the right match. (The extreme of this sort of style are folks who take so long deciding that they find the cat they choose already gone.)

Others take a more spontaneous approach. In they come, exclaiming oohs and ahs and how they wish they could take them all home, oh look how cute that one is and so on. And then a match is made just minutes later. A charmed visit, where the cat is cautious but sweet, tentatively crawling onto a new lap and purring happily. The people stroke the cat and look at each other and tell each other this is the one.

I wasn’t actually there when Linus got adopted. He started out as a real scaredy cat – it took two visits before he even ventured far enough to let me see how big he is. But he’s a gentle loving lap cat, and very bright. Still, I worried for him. He was older, shy, quite overweight. Meantime a friend at work had casually mentioned wanting to get a cat, but her boyfriend had some allergy issues, they might just take a look at Maddys.

I had not even specifically mentioned my boy Linus. But according to Justine, when they passed his condo, a volunteer was cuddling with him, and they thought he was awfully cute. They went in and had one of those magic bonding sessions. They checked out some more cats just to be sure, but returned to Linus. He’s blossomed at his new home, and it’s wonderful to get regular updates.