Meet Angel

My sweet little companion

This is Angel, the first fur baby I have ever adopted.

She came with a sensitivity to sun, and a history of loneliness and fear from living on the streets. 

And the moment I saw her I knew she had to come home with me.

Despite my nerves and the daunting idea of being responsible for another life form, my heart had decided far before my mind.

Since adopting her, she has filled me with so much love.

Meeting Angel for the First Time

The year before I found her, I had lost my childhood dog and most loving companion in a very quick and unexpected death relating to complex medical issues.

Some people think losing an animal is low impact, that grief is reserved for people.

Molly was the only living thing on this world that expected nothing of me, was always happy to see me, always wanted to be near me.

There was an emptiness in me, it was like losing something that the whole world should feel, like if suddenly the smell of flowers didn’t exist.

I was devastated.

12 year old me and Molly.

Losing Molly made me realise just how much loving her helped me hold on.

My house mate has a cat, Olive, and she was a massive comfort during this period, though she’s always been far more interested in her dad (my housemate).

At times when I was sad, we would talk about maybe getting another cat to be friends with Olive, which would bring me some comfort.

That maybe I could adopt a little fur baby of my own.

That way I wouldn’t be sad if my housemate had to move out or circumstances meant I couldn’t see Olive again.

Sometime later, I would walk into my local Pet Barn with him to buy the yearly flea treatment for Olive.

It was there, that I saw a little white and brown cat sitting quietly, waiting to be adopted.

She stared at me the whole walk inside, its like she looked inside my soul.

I’m usually good at having an iron heart when I go to pet stores, years of my family taking me to look at pets but ultimately deciding never to follow through helped me tune out the adorable yaps and loving eyes.

This was different.

She was the only animal left in the cages, and she was making direct eye contact with me.

She looked so alone, sitting there quietly by herself.

But I tried to stay focused on looking for the right treatment.

A group of kids that had been in the bird section ran over very loudly and started making a fuss at the cage.

I heard them from aisles away, at least 5 kids of different ages poking and rattling and shouting at the cage trying to get her attention.

I ended up going over there, just to be an adult standing by.

Poor Angel looked so scared and miserable, with her body as close to the back corner as possible, not making any eye contact.

The kids seemed to notice me and gave her some distance until their parent came over. I heard them all discussing how cute she was and begging their mother to let them take her.

Their mother walked over to the counter and began enquiring with the retail assistant, at some point gesturing to the cages where Angel was, and I began to dread what I saw unfolding.

Soon after their mother seemed done, and hurried them all out the door.

 I breathed a small sigh of relief.

Angel was still sitting in the corner with her face turned away.

I sat on a pile of giant litter bags and started to quietly introduce myself to her, saying things to her like what my name was, how her name was somewhat significant and repetitive in my family (previous pets and family members had been called Angel before), and how it felt like we were meeting each other for a reason.  

She was sitting back for a while but gradually came over to the bars to have a sniff.

It was overwhelming how much I felt for her.

My housemate came over announcing that he’d found what he thought we usually gave his cat for fleas, and on seeing me as I was, ultimately said “Is that cat coming home with us?”.

I ended up enquiring to the same retail assistant the mum of those kids had spoken to, and she relayed to me some information about her background.

She emphasized that due to a pre-existing condition she was not likely to be covered for the expenses if she ended up needing treatment related to sun damage or skin cancers.

The poor baby had been waiting to be adopted for over 5 weeks, likely because of this pre-existing condition according to the retail assistant.

I couldn’t make such an important decision so soon, so I asked if it would be possible to come back the next day with everything I would need.

They explained that they couldn’t “hold” her for me, but that they would keep me in mind.

That was such an anxious night.

I was filled with worries and doubts.

What if we don’t get along?

What if she hates the other cat?

As someone with severe sensory issues, what if I can’t stand the feel of her fur?

What if I turn out to be allergic to her?

What if I have no idea what I’m doing?

What if I’m not ready for this?

I could hear my mums tone in my head, telling me over and over again that she wasn’t sure I could handle something so important, that I’m not capable.

I couldn’t keep sitting in silent panic.

I ended up voicing all my fears out loud with my housemate, who reassured me that I had been taking care of Olive mostly on my own anyway. That I wasn’t allergic to Olive so surely I would be fine with another cat.

Had I ever disliked a cats fur before? No. So why was I so worried?

Olive had been around other animals before and been friendly, and we had wanted a friend for her to play with and have as company for a while anyway.

Every anxiety I had was quickly met with rationalization, and I started to realise how desperate I was to get back to her, to see her again.

Once I had decided in my heart, there was no going back.

Angel Comes Home

I spent the night staring at her information online, and hoping it wasn’t too late.

I called the Pet Barn as soon as it opened, and after double checking that she was still available, I explained that I would be out in a few hours to pick her up. They were delighted and told me they would get her ready for moving.

Then I made my way to the local Kmart and grabbed everything I could to make her introduction to her new home a comforting one.

I bought her a collection of toys, one that I thought was super cute was a little star with a blue bell on a string, keeping in theme with her name.

I grabbed the normal stuff, litter box, litter, her own cat carrier, some neutral blankets and a blanket just for her, also blue with stars on it.

Obviously we got her a scratching post all to herself, her very own food and water bowls and the final touch was a soft bed.

I took everything home, unpacked and assembled the buildable items, then nervously made my way with my housemate and his sister to Pet Barn.

I walked in the front doors and once again she was there, sitting facing the doors, as if she was waiting for me.

I wanted to make sure she was still comfortable with me, as much as I wanted to take her, I still needed to make sure she wanted to come with me.

So I asked if I could give her a pet before we started the process.

The retail assistant told me I could hold her, and awkwardly attempted to pull Angel out of the carrier.

She hated it, she fought the poor girl the whole time.

Angel chewing on my housemate for trying to move her off his laptop.

Until I picked her up.

Her fur was soft and fluffy, and her little paws rested on my chest.

She looked up at me with her big green eyes and licked me on the nose.

She was perfect. I knew it was meant to be.

After some more pets from my friends, I gave up all the paper work, handed over the tiny sum of $180, and we were walking out the door with the precious new member of my family.

Getting her home and into her room, she had a big sniff of everything, bouncing between furniture items, pieces of clothing and her new stuff.

She came with some stuff of her own, like an old towel and a cute pink crinkly fish, but she seemed instantly into the blanket and little star toy I had bought her.

She bounced around jumping on my bed and leaping from lap to lap.

She didn’t like being touched very much, so we mostly let her run around and approach us when she wanted to.

It took weeks for her to be ok with pets, she would flich away from hands and bolt if she was spooked, and the sound of a lighter used to send her running.

We learned that Angel had been a stray on the street, that she had likely been abused or mistreated in the past, and that she had actually already had a litter before coming into animal care.

It made me terribly sad to think of what she went through, it still does when she gets scared of the loud noises outside or huddles during a storm.

No matter, I tried to make every day a day I could show her she was safe.

I would sit on the ground with her and just leave my hands open palm on the floor, and she would eventually curl around behind me and slink around to my right side.

After a while, I would move my right arm up and over her so she was just under it, and eventually I was able to rest my hand on her back for a while before she took off.

Soon after, she was fully leaning against me, running her face up against my arm and nosing at my hands.

She became my little helper, sticking to my feet at all times.

She would follow me all around the house, and when I chose a place to stay for a while like my art studio or the living room, she would find her own space and curl up, watching me.

She was adjusting so well.

The only difficulty was managing her and Olive.

Olive pretending she hasn’t seen Angel.

We watched YouTube videos on how to introduce cats and make it as stress free as possible, but we were doing it for the first time and some mistakes were made.

Angel was very slippery, more slippery than a bar of soap in a bath.

And so she got out of her base camp and met Olive way too quickly one day, I think Angel just wanted to play, but Olive was a bit sensitive, and with one disrespectful paw bop Olive was firmly against the new family member for the first month or 2.

We tried to fix it, we started over and tried to make the environment for both of them easier to navigate, alas they still butt heads from time to time.  

Although, Olive is very protective of Angel and vice versa.

Its so strange to see 2 creatures hate on each other so badly in some instances, but in the face of adversity, they stick together.

If a bug threatens the house, they both work together and abandon their differences to take it down.

If they get scared or think there’s a danger, they will both sit together or huddle near each other, almost like they’re keeping each other covered.

Ultimately, I think Angel just wants to play, and sometimes I think its territorial.

Olive will come over to my desk for pats and Angel will strut out from under it to get inbetween me and Olive, which Olive takes very poorly.

 After a few years and a few moves together, they are mostly comfortable with each other, especially now that we have moved in with another housemate and his cat Nova.

They have banded together in their curiosity of the new cat, and when Nova gets grumpy and growly they both react together and run off.

They are like step siblings who have learned to love each other.

Angel Today

 Today, Angel is a happy little bubby, her favourite things are lying on the bed, sleeping and napping with other people, FOOD and exploring the limits of her parkour.

Her and Olive get along much better these days, with little nose boops and sniffs, they may never curl up in the same bed together but they certainly seem to accept each other.

Angel is still hypervigilant, and she might always be, but what we do know is that she is happy and safe with us.

She never used to meow or purr.

Now, she is finding her lungs in a house filled with loud people and loud cats.

She finds her peace sleeping on our chests or our stomachs, which is when she lets herself purr.

She loves and trusts people more, and has already accepted our new housemate as a permanent family member.

Living with Angel is a joy.

Angel came to me when I needed to give love to someone other than myself.

She taught me to slow down, to take my time.

We both need people to be patient with us, we both have trust issues and need to be reassured, we both get scared, and this time we have each other.

She’s my little best friend.