I always thought about adopting a cat...one day. My childhood cat, Buster taught me how cool animals actually were. Not that I needed convincing. He was an awesome tuxedo cat who loved the outdoors more than anything else. Fast forward several years and Rich and I would have a cat of our own! This is the story of one cute little black cat who found his furever home! Hello everyone and welcome to the official Chicago Black Cat Blog! I'll be posting about various cat facts, stories, nutrition information and of course our cat Mikita. I’ve talked about Mikita’s adoption story a few times on @chicagoblackcat but there is always more to tell so for the first time, I’ll include all the details!
QUICK FACTS
MIKITA'S BIRTHDAY: July 9, 2013 (approx.)
ADOPTION DATE: December 28, 2014
GENDER: Mikita is a male cat
AGE WHEN ADOPTED: He was 1.5 years old.
INSTAGRAM: @chicagoblackcat was started on November 6, 2016
OUR LOVE OF ANIMALS
My husband Rich and I have always loved animals. Our Friday nights often consist of watching nature documentaries and attempting to be productive. We jumped at the chance to cat sit my friend Sarah’s kitty, Bunny several years back. Yup, Bunny is a tortoiseshell cat. She's smart, active, determined and lovable. During each of the times we watched Bunny, Rich would try to convince me that we should adopt a cat. Even though I loved having a cat growing up, living in a small apartment concerned me. Would a cat feel too cramped? Would we? Whenever we had Bunny it seemed more doable to have one of our own.
In November 2014 Sarah and I volunteered at an event at Harmony House, a cat shelter in Chicago. At this point Rich and I had discussed the possibility of a cat so I went in with an open mind. I saw a grey or black cat in my future. But I also knew that might entirely change once I met all the kitties! At Harmony House, I met a sweet black cat and told Rich about her. The next day we went to Harmony House together so Rich could meet her as well as some others.
HARMONY HOUSE FOR CATS
I located the black cat I saw with Sarah and we started to play with her. As I was dangling a fluffy cat toy, the staff informed us that she was under a year old and considered a kitten. This meant that we would need to adopt in a pair since we didn't have another cat at home. They do this for good reason. A kitten has a lot of energy and thus requires a lot of attention. They need a buddy to help them learn to "cat"! We were sad about this but since we were unable to adopt in a pair, we understood. We left her behind and went to another room. The staff introduced us to different cats as we walked around and interacted with them. At one point Rich sat down. A cute little black cat jumped up on his lap and got comfy. Is that meant to be or what?! We were chosen! That cute black cat they called Adam Ant (after the British singer), was our guy.
HEALTH ISSUES
Adam Ant hopped down and I started petting him. But his leg seemed to be bothering him. The shelter wanted to have it checked out before we adopted him, so we went home and waited to hear back. Turns out he had a luxating patella on the left knee and an injured right knee. The patella issue was likely genetic and we’d need to care for that moving forward. But the knee injury may have been caused by a recent hard landing.
They also discovered in the process that he had blood in his urine. They had been trying to nail down the cat with the UTI and turns out Adam Ant was the culprit. Poor little guy was such a
sweetheart, even when he wasn’t feeling well. They decided to put him on cage rest for a couple weeks along with some treatment. We visited him a couple times because we missed him! The cage was temporary and that knee needed to heal up. When the cage door closed and we had to say goodbye, we knew it wouldn’t be forever. We were watching Bunny at the time, so we had to wait to make the adoption official. The timing actually worked out really well.
MAKING IT OFFICIAL
On December 28, 2014 the last day of cat sitting Bunny, we went to Harmony House. We were so excited to see our fluffy little guy! He's so cute isn't he?! We tell him that all the time. Anyway, we made it official right then and there. It was clear that Adam Ant (soon to be Mikita) was a well liked little dude by the shelter staff. He was calm, cuddly and a total sweetheart. We were in for a treat! His story was that he was found as a stray. Not much of a story, but common for cats. Clearly way too submissive and not equipped with the mentality to live on the streets of Chicago, he was taken in. Harmony House was his home for six months until we adopted him. I thank every single person who passed him up because we love him SO MUCH.
BRINGING MIKITA HOME
We signed some papers, put him in a new carrier and took him home! It was an exciting day! Unfortunately Rich had to work that night so he wasn’t able to spend much time with Mikita. That’s ok, we’d have plenty of time to get to know him. Plus, I basically just sent Rich photos of Mikita all night. Mikita didn't hesitate to put on a show!
He explored every inch of his new home. Previously a little shy around the other cats at the shelter, he gained confidence immediately and reveled in his new space! We saw him come out of his shell as we learned more about him each day. He enjoyed our Christmas tree, sprawled out on the couch and made sure to investigate every corner of our bed, because after all he’d be sleeping there too! This was all in the very first night.
PERSONALITY
Over those first few days we learned about Mikita's habits and personality. Even though Mikita was very comfortable right away, he still took a few months to fully show us all of his quirks. He enjoys eating my hair and going on Rich's shoulders, to name a couple things. A few people at the shelter said he was pretty chill and would be a great lap cat. He is a darn good lap cat and a pro snuggler, but he's also a total nut and has become very talkative. I like to think we have our own language. I'm sure many of you chat with your cats too! We weren't expecting him to bounce off the walls the way he does but we embrace every strange, energetic and adorable trait. Cats are all different but anyone who knows cats knows they make no apologies. They are far too cool for apologies and we love them for that.
ADOPTION IS AMAZING
If you're considering bringing a pet into your family, I highly recommend it! Not a day goes by that we're both not thankful to have Mikita in our world. The crazy little hair eating, chatter box, pro snuggler black kitty is the best roommate we could have asked for. We never knew Mikita as a kitten since he was 1.5 years old when we adopted him, but I'll bet he was just the cutest little baby cat ever! He's always learning and we're still learning about him too. He's the best! Find a shelter in your city and meet your furrrever booper! If you don't go in, you'll never meet.