A Little Me Me Update

Back in March, on the first Sunday, March 2, I told the story of losing my best little fur buddy, Mojo, the night before.  I woke up March 1st to him passed away in my arms.  It's a long story, and to be honest, still painful to read.  

There's an update to that story to pass along.  After my hernia surgery back on June 12, and another two weeks getting cleared to get back to life, we took the giant step of going to look to adopt another cat.  We specifically wanted an older cat because we know that families tend to generally prefer younger cats, say kittens under 1 year old, and the fully grown cats are likely to be euthanized first.  There's a charitable group here in town that's dedicated to taking in cats like that and getting them placed in homes.  They work through a "full service" pet store called Petsmart that includes everything from veterinarians to groomers and people who will help train you how to train your dog.  

When we went to the store to see if they had any like we were looking for we found one right away;  they called her a six year old neutered female but gave us medical records showing her birthday was in April of 2020, making her five.  

We took her home on Sunday, July 6.  Her name is Tyla, and like every other cat we've ever adopted from some shelter, she doesn't react to that name.  Tyla reacts to toys, chases everything, plays with everything and only has one annoying habit that I've yet to break her of - when  you're petting her she bites at your hand or grabs at it with her claws out.  She's slowly adapting to me stopping petting her if she starts biting too much.  If she wants to be petted, she needs to enjoy it without biting. 

I had a hard time memorizing that name - she was Kyla, Kayleigh, and a few other permutations of those sounds until I finally thought of Steve Tyler the lead vocalist for Aerosmith.  Just pronounce Tyler with a heavy Boston accent: Tie - Lah.  (Steve also is the subject of thousands of pictures online talking about how he looks like "the world's coolest grandma").  Then there's Steve's beautiful daughter Liv Tyla.  Um... Liv Tyler.  Liv makes it easier to associate the name with a woman.

Tyla playing with a toy she came to her new home with. Image credit: me, SiG.

Tyla isn't a replacement for Mojo any more than any loved one can be replaced.  She's an individual with a very different personality.  We're learning to live with her just as she's learning to live with us.  One of the other reasons we looked for an older cat is the uncomfortable fact that we're both over 70 and have no nearby family we can count on to help if something were to happen to one of us and the cat were suddenly on their own.