Meet Helena!

Helena

We adopted her today from Paws Chicago. She’s a beautiful orange tabby (the pics don’t do her justice), just over a year old, and she is affectionate, friendly, and completely adorable. She immediately flopped and showed Aidan her belly at the shelter, purred when I pet her. She and Crookshanks bumped noses right away and not one hiss or growl out of either of them.

We made sure to find a cat who was youngish, good with children, and good with other animals. She comes from a hoarder situation–basically a crazy cat lady who had 40 cats. She’s used to other animals, which is evident. When we got her home, she hid under the bed until we cautiously let Crookshanks in to meet her. That’s when they bumped noses, and that’s when she finally came out and about. The people at Paws told us that she’d probably warm up to him more quickly than to us, which is what I’m seeing–although every time I get the chance to pet her, she purrs like crazy!

Next week, our family is going to be on the Paws Web site!

We first stopped by the Anti-Cruelty Society, but even though it’s more expensive, I definitely recommend PAWS for your adoption. The cat’s completely checked out, spayed/neutered, shots up to date, monitored, and microchipped. It’s a no-cage area, so when you’re ready to meet cats, you can sit with them and play with them. The adoption process actually takes hours; we were there a long time today. You talk to a counselor and everything. At the end, you get a huge coupon book from PetCo and a free bag of food! We get a free wellness exam in the next week, and if something crazy happens in the next 14 days and we can’t keep her, we can return her and get a refund. I can’t imagine giving her back, though. 🙂

I’m very happy to have Helena live with us. ♥

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)