Cat Heaven - Gretle

I head to Maddie’s the day before the long weekend, later in the day than normal, and the place is fairly crowded. There’s even a cute wiggly puppy out on the front counter with a handler armed with hand sanitizer ready to squirt potential cuddlers.

During my first lull, I check in on Gretle, a sweet, slightly plump 9 year old tortie. She’s classified as an "executive" (ie busy with her own schedule), but she’s been here for several months now, and is increasingly eager for human companionship.

She hops down immediately and rubs around, then flops down in front of me, leaning warmly on my leg while I pet her. Then she has a bite to eat – what she does when she’s happy – and returns to lick my hand then give herself a bath, as if she’s acting out how it would be if we lived together.

Our reverie is interrupted by a boisterous group of adults and kids who want to meet Cadence, five month old bundle of energy to start with, made even more excited by all these people tossing his toys around. He’s got a soft blanket in his condo that says "Tina live in concert 2008," which I later learn was part of donation from concert promoters (Tina being Tina Turner).

A dad and two cute daughters implore me to show them a pair of shy kittens. They’re very excited but are learning appropriate behavior towards animals, and do their best to keep their volume and movements mellow. It’s soon clear from their conversation that actually adopting a kitten is more of a long future prize than something that will happen anytime soon.

The girls tell me about other cats they know, including one that died, whom their father immediately reminds them is now in heaven. This prompts the girls to name others they know in heaven, a list that runs from elderly relatives to recently departed goldfish. Although heaven for me would certainly include pets, I don’t really want to get into a theological discussion with someone else’s six year olds, and I steer the conversation back to the kittens.

I spend the last part of my shift with a pair of cute young women who do want to adopt today. They’ve recently lost an elderly cat and start out saying they want one who’s similar, who’s very cuddly. But in fact they meet and seem drawn to a wide range of cats. I like that they take the process seriously, really paying attention to the cats’ cues and discussing their merits.

The more devoted lap cats tend to be older, but after losing the old cat they don’t want to face that again for a long time. As I’m leaving, they’ve pretty much decided on one of the shy little kittens I was showing earlier. And I’m happy for the little gal – their place probably is pretty close to cat heaven.