Meet Rye!

With all the craziness that has been ruling my life lately I totally forgot to mention a very important new member of our household: Rye.

After Maraya passed we knew that our home wasn't complete without the maximum number of cats allowed in our apartment (which happens to be 2). With Maraya gone, Minty seemed really subdued, which was surprising since a) she is a bundle of energy usually, and b) she & Maraya were not friends (Maraya didn't like cats). So, we thought getting a kitten would bring some new energy in the house, and also give some companionship to Mints.

Dh had agreed that we could get a kitten after we came back from Mendocino, since we really didn't want to get a new cat & then leave it alone. I was on board, but then I started doing the dumbest thing possible. I started looking at Petfinder.com. It was there that I saw this picture,

and I knew that I had to have him. I was wanting another Siamese mix, because Minty's personality is so likable, and her dominant traits are very Siamese-like (vocal, friendly, independent, boisterous, also she plays fetch & that's also a Siamese trait). So, I started looking at pets in our zip code, and then kept expanding, and expanding, and expanding, until I came across Rye, who was 120 miles away...

I e-mailed his foster mom at 10:00 pm to see if he was still available. Yep, but they were bringing him to Petco in the morning to be displayed with the other foster cats. Well, looking at the site, I could tell that Rye was the absolute cutest cat they had & he would be snatched up immediately. So, I had just a few hours to convince my dh to agree to this "whim" of mine. It took all night, with a lot of pleading & crying, & general emotional manipulation on my part. Which I've apologized for. Profusely. His resistance wasn't to getting a cat, but that we had the remaining chairs to our dining room set to be delivered the next morning, plus the drive was excessive & expensive, plus we were two weeks away from Mendocino.

So, the next morning we drove up to Sacramento & met Rye & he was the sweetest, lightest little thing. When you hold him he just goes limp, and gazes into your eyes. He's so cute!

He definitely had a week of adjusting (lots of whining (we called him Little Whimps), no eye contact with us, was only interested in Minty (who saw his distress & took to completely mothering him, even letting him nurse to help calm him down)) but he's now a fun member of the family. He's really gentle and playful. When I took him to the vet the vet tech told me I "had the best kitten ever!" Aw, words to make a mom proud!

You can see more pics here: Rye & Minty Gallery, but here's a couple of teasers: