Happy Tails: Clarabelle

Beautiful Clarabelle was adopted from MRFRS in 2012 after being surrendered. She came back to us in October 2020 as a 12-year-old senior kitty after her person had to go to a nursing home. She was adopted on Halloween. Her new family wrote about the experience of adopting a senior cat:

Our family had been looking forward to Halloween! We were excited about the potential for candy, but mostly to meet our new senior kitty, Clarabelle. Halloween was adoption day! It was cold and snowy when we picked her up from MRFRS. I dashed from the foyer to the car, making sure she didn’t feel the cold for long.

Once we arrived home, we created a luxurious cat pad for her in our guest room. She had an igloo for privacy, litter, food, blankets, and toys. We opened the carrier and she jumped out immediately. She greeted us briefly, and jumped up on the bed. We watched her struggle to get on the bed and purchased plush stairs to make it easier. For about a week she split time between the igloo and the bed. We all thought, “when are you going to go explore, Clarabelle?”

After a week she started to explore. Cautiously, step, step, flop – she would lie down and survey her surroundings. She is a little pear-shaped and we wondered if she had trouble carrying her weight (we later learned that wasn’t the case). She was just exploring slowly. Our bathroom became her favorite room. Did she love drinking from the bath faucet? You bet she did! She started to nudge anything with a hinge; cabinet doors, closets, and would venture in when we opened them. So brave! We bought her a fountain to drink from, no more tubby time. She liked that way better than the boring bowl of water.

Eventually, she found her way downstairs. The trails of treats prompted her to come down. She sat on the living room sofa in the front of the house for about 2 weeks. Back upstairs to eat or take care of business. Then back on the sofa.

She tried to explore the family room where we spend all of our time. NOPE! It was the flicker and movement from the ceiling fan that stopped her. We turned off the fan for a while and eventually she became so comfortable in that room, she rarely leaves!

She now has complete run of the house. Her favorite spot is in the corner of our sofa. She’s not a lap cat yet, but she does seem to check out our laps from time to time and likes to stand on us while we’re trying to sleep. She loves the laser pointer. She doesn’t like wearing Santa hats. She plays in the morning, but likes to sleep for the remainder of the day. We don’t know exactly what her meows mean yet, but we’re trying our darndest to figure that out and we love her!

It is rewarding to adopt a senior kitty. They have much love to share! They might not have the energy of a kitten or young cat, but they can purr like no one’s business and they don’t claw your arms and bite your hands. I’ve got this purring hot water bottle that hangs out with me at night and that’s PURR-FECT!