Emma

Now that I am retired and have lots of time to do what I want, Kitty Limericks is coming back.  I am really rusty on limerick writing, so I am starting with Emma.  This is still my favorite photo of Emma.  It is the first good picture I got of her and the only time I got close enough to her with the camera to get a portrait photo. Emma came into my (and Herman's) life on March 1st of this year.  She was brought into the Espanola Animal Shelter (high kill rate) by a couple who found her hanging around their yard.  They had been feeding her outside and noticed that the other cats in the neighborhood were being really mean to her.  They decided to bring her inside, but first took her to the shelter's spay and neuter clinic for a checkup and to be spayed.  The shelter did a workup on her and discovered that she was FeLV+. The couple who brought her in decided that they didn't want to keep her after all.  I don't know if it was because of her diagnosis, or if they just had second thoughts about adopting a stray kitty. At any rate, the shelter couldn't keep her for any length of time because they are always overcrowded and she was considered hard to adopt out.  The foster homes were all full and couldn't take an FeLV+ cat because she would have to be isolated. A lady who worked at the shelter remembered that Herman's foster Mom had a room for kitties who needed to be isolated and contacted her.  Herman's foster Mom was also full up, but she told the lady at the shelter that she knew the perfect person to take in this kitty.  Herman's foster Mom called me up and gave me the contact information.  I called up the shelter lady as soon as possible and told her that I would be delighted to take her in, as I already had a cat with FeLV.  We had a long conversation about the personalities of both cats and decided that there was a very good chance that Herman and the yet-unnamed kitty would get along.  I made sure that she understood that if they didn't get along, I was willing to foster the kitty until I could find her a home. The call ended with, "When can you come pick her up?"  Herman's foster Mom and picked her up the very next day.

It turned out that I needn't have worried at all about them getting along.  My concerns were that Herman had always been an only cat in his two homes and much of his contact with other cats had been of the fighting kind.  On the plus side, Herman had been acting a bit lonely.  He wasn't playing as much as he had been.  He was sort of moping around during the day,  but being very clingy at night.  I think he actually wanted a companion cat.  When I brought Emma home (she didn't have a name yet, not for several days), the first thing I did was put her carrier in the middle of the living room floor.  Herman greeted me, but ignored the carrier until Emma meowed softly.  Then he slowly sauntered over to inspect the carrier.  When he got up to the door, Emma backed to the very back of the carrier and hissed at him.  Herman backed up just a little ways and lay down on the floor, looking at Emma.  I took this for a good sign.

I had set up Herman's safe room for Emma.  She had a litter box waiting and I brought her food and water as soon as we let her out of the carrier. She made herself right at home.  She availed herself of all three facilities almost immediately and accepted my caresses right away.  She was obviously not a feral-born cat, but must have escaped (or been dumped) from a home at a very early age, as she is only a year and a half old now.  I don't know which it was, but all attempts to locate the former home failed.  Herman insisted on coming into Emma's room with me every time I went in to feed, water, scoop the box and spend time with her.  I let him stay until Emma hissed at him.  To do him justice, he backed off every time he heard the hiss.  He was a perfect gentleman toward her at all times.  Herman wanted to be friends with her so badly, but Emma was scared of him.  No wonder, he is twice her size.  On the nineteenth day of Emma being in her safe room, I was awakened by loud thumping on that door.  I thought Herman was trying to get in, so I got up to tell him to leave her alone until breakfast time.  I found Herman right outside the door all right, but the latch hadn't engaged fully and Herman could have pushed the door open any time he liked.  The noise came from Emma trying to get out.  I opened the door, Herman and Emma kissed noses and they have been mostly friends every since. There is the occasional spat, but I have never seen any poofed-up tails or arched backs, so they have never been really serious about it.

Emma is very active. She wants to go everywhere, see everything, do everything.  She even entices Herman to chase her by running right past his nose at top speed or even jumping over him. Sometimes, Emma has had enough of Herman and she goes to one of several spots where he can't or won't follow.  I have never seen any kitty wrestling, but that isn't surprising, due to the difference in their sizes.  Emma really does run wherever she goes.  Oh, I have seen her occasionally start to just saunter down the hall, the way Herman does, but she soon picks up the pace. At night, as I go to my room, I see her flashing white feet ahead of me in the dimly lit hallway.

                                                  Emma runs wherever she goes.
                                                  The reason why, only she knows.
                                                             She runs and she leaps
                                                             Way up high, where she sleeps.
                                                  I love to watch those flashing white toes.