Finding Dora: Meet Our Second Cat!

Saturday, May 13, 2017


Mother's Day weekend seems like an appropriate time to finally introduce you to my second furbaby - even though she's been a part of the family for awhile now! 

The day after Christmas, Mike & I went on a mission: to find a second kitty. We stopped by the Cleveland Animal Protective League, just down the street from our apartment, but they were nearly cleaned out of cats. I hope a bunch of 'em got good homes for the holiday! We were going to come back another day, but I convinced Mike to drive to the PetSmart in Parma, an APL partner.

And that's where we found Dora!

OK, her given name was Diamond, but no way were we making her keep that. We'd been planning to adopt a male cat & name him Sherlock, but Mike decided our new girl was too delicate for such a rough-&-tumble name. Instead, he chose the name Nymphadora, after Harry Potter's beloved Tonks (RI.P.), suggesting that we call her Dora.

Dora had come to the APL after being severely neglected. Her owner's mother brought her in, saying her daughter wasn't taking proper care of the cat. In fact, when she arrived at the APL, her fur was so matted that they had to shave her back, so when we met her, she was a little sad-looking; her fur was wiry & slick, & it was a missing a big chunk! The APL also removed several of her teeth, which were rotting from neglect - but they told us she was still able to chow down on hard food.

In other words, this baby was in serious need of love - & we were amazed that even after such poor treatment, she was friendly & sweet & cuddly. We knew she was the cat for us as soon as we walked into the adoption center & she bumped her head against the bars of her cage to be petted. All the other cats were sleepy & quiet, staying far away from visitors, but Dora was all up on us

She turned out to be the perfect addition to our little family. While she & Helo were wary of one another at first, they're now BFFs, cuddling & fighting like cat-sibs. Since she's been with us, her fur has become shiny & soft & way more pettable, & her bald patch has grown back, never to be matted again. She is happy & pretty & healthy & wonderful.

And she has so much personality.

Her meows sound, as Mike describes it, "like a velociraptor being born," which earned her the nickname Dora Dinosaura. Since her adoption, her meows have become slightly more robust, but she still sounds sort of dweeby & dinosaur-like. And she meows a lot, trying to tell us she wants food or an open window or to be petted. Opinionated little girl!

She's obsessed with plastic water bottle caps, meow-screaming whenever she sees me drinking out of a water bottle so that I'll remember to give her her favorite toy. She carries them around in her mouth like prey & bats them around the hardwood floors until she loses them. They are, presumably, hidden all over both apartments, stuck in little nooks & crannies we didn't know existed.

She's super cuddly, snuggling right up in the crook of my arm when I'm on the couch or behind my knees when I sleep. She'll headbutt us to force petting, slipping under our hands & looking just so darn happy about it. She regularly tries to lay atop my hand when I work, plopping right on top of my mouse - & she loveslovesloves her papa. I think she knows that he picked her out.

I can't imagine our lives without this sweet, soft, sleepy, meowy little girl. We feel so lucky to have found her!

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