This adorable, gray tabby was born on March 31, 2016. He officially joined our family on May 29th and was given the name Murdo. Little Murdo Martin has brought our home so much joy and love, we just can't imagine life without him. :)
Let me back up a few and tell you about our adventures in pet adoption... First of all, Ru and I were both pretty much adamant in our stance to NOT have a pet. Back in Costa Mesa, we had tried the ones that swim in a bowl and didn't care much for that either. We both grew up with cats and loved them but we didn't want the hassle of a litter box, buying food, having throw up on our furniture, and having a couch clawed to death. We noticed how much our boys gravitated towards cats (dogs were scary to both!) but we still had no desire. Then, Rudy began the conversations about what a cat would do for Kyle and how much joy it would bring to our home...and we started to waffle...
We finally came to the conclusion that the benefits of having a cat would outweigh the cost. And our search began! We first tried our local big chain pet store on their adoption day. There were cats and kitties everywhere. We'd find some we were interested in and then be directed to this or that "foster mom" to discuss each cat's temperament. Cat after cat, we were turned down because of how young our boys were. Kitties, we were told, were out of the question due to the age of our boys and the requirement we'd have to adopt 2. Each foster mom would turn and ask "The Cat Lady" who is in charge if we could adopt so and so, and we were told our boys wouldn't be responsible enough to shut our house doors and the cat would get out and be lunch to a coyote. I kid you not, we spent over 2 hours at this pet store. If you know Rudy, you're shocked at this point. Amazing what we do for our kids when they are so excited to bring home a feline friend. It turned out that THE ONLY CAT we were allowed to adopt was the blind one. Yep...our family just wasn't qualified.
Rudy kindly explained the situation to The Cat Lady, that we had promised our boys we'd get them a cat and after 2 hours, was there really no cat here suitable for our family?!?! Kyle began to cry and The Cat Lady took some pity and offered to take us to her home to see "Washington." Washington (see below) lived in a house with 20+ rescue cats... It was quite an experience.
You can kind of gather from the picture what the living conditions were like. :( The Cat Lady keenly observed our every movement and interaction with this cat. I've never been watched so closely. At the end of it all, we thought Washington's personality would suit us and she seemed reluctantly able to consider us for adoption. She did, however, say she'd need to do a home inspection. No joke. So we waited to hear back from this woman in spite of our uneasy feelings. After 4 or so days, Cat Lady called us saying she had another option for us and could she and the foster mom please come and do a home visit. By this point, Rudy had been informed by people at his work of adoption agencies like this one, and told me to steer clear of this woman! Unfortunately, she was already on her way and we agreed to meet this new cat. The visit was awkward and ended with her yelling at my boys for answering the door for a visiting neighbor (and thus having the door open just a crack!). I kindly told the foster mom and Cat Lady that we would look for our pet elsewhere and they stormed off in a huff. I couldn't believe it would be so hard to get our family a cat. Where was the box of kitties with a "Free" sign on it?
We put the cat idea on hold for a little while and then one day Rudy dropped by a little hole in the wall pet store and met a sweet, little gray kitty that just begged to be held, snuggled, and loved. Perfect. We went to our local big store to buy all the cat "necessities" we'd need. The boys just couldn't have been cuter!
Then came the trip to go get our little boy. :)
Murdo is a little love and prefers to be very near us. He cuddles anyone and everyone, doesn't run and hide from Gavin's young hands, and purrs on a dime.
We called local family members and they came pretty quickly to meet him. We loved how well he took to all the new people. Here he is meeting Auntie Michelle.
We kept our little guy in the boys' bathroom for a few days and then let him branch out to our bedroom for about a week before opening the doors to the rest of the house. Murdo did so well.
He is so playful and fun and yet loves to sleep on or near you. He follows us room to room, wanting to be close. He's just the best.
Murdo is an indoor/outdoor kitty and definitely knows where his home is. So far, no throw up, no accidents (minus the one in our dishwasher when the door was down! Yuck!) and uses his scratching post and leaves our couch alone! :) His only downfall is that he keeps us awake at about 11pm and 4am. We're hoping with age, he mellows out.
Overall, we are just in love. Murds (yes, he already has several nicknames) sleeps with Kyle every night and is a trooper with all of Gavin's "affection." A practically perfect little kitty, he is. :)
