Biggie’s new home…

A few days a go I wrote a post called Re-homing my gorgeous cat. The post ends with… Suraj called her and we’ll be introducing Biggie with her knew companion very soon. This has been a very difficult decision and I’m quite sure it’s not hit home’ yet. Nevertheless, it is the best thing for Bigs and that is what I need to focus on.

This post is about the second part of Biggie’s journey and my own.

So we arranged to take Biggie to her new home yesterday. We wanted the best for her and we wanted her to have some familiarity so we took her 3 levelled seating area which has 3 scratch posts (Biggieville), her food bowls, any food we had for her, the throws which we sits on etc. We spent some time packing it all up and then we put her in her carrier.

She associates being in the carrier with going to the vet as we had visited the vet thrice in the last 6 months. Once because she had problems with her teeth and then twice more when she needed some vaccinations. The thing is, when we sat in the car she wasn’t meowing at all. She was quiet all the way and the journey took about 20 minutes. She knew!

On the way I talked to her and sang spiritual songs to her. She seemed to like that. I was feeling quite sad and tearful so this helped me too.

When we got inside we put her carrier on the sofa and opened it up. I expected her to jump out of it straight away but she didn’t. She had a good look around and then settled in it. She had a look again and then settled again. She actually looked really comfortable in her carrier which I never thought I’d see! We let her be, talked amongst ourselves, stroked her, talked to her & I scratched the sofa to encourage her to come out but nothing. After a good half an hour or more Suraj took her carrier to Biggieville in the hope that she’d feel more comfy on it and come out.

She started to get up and look around again so Suraj moved the carrier so that she could jump out of it and onto Biggieville. That was it! There was no stopping her. She jumped off Biggieville, went to the bottom layer of it, had something to eat and then went exploring all around her new home. It was so good to see. 🙂

If the original plan had gone ahead I don’t think I would feel so positive. This plan involved Sue coming to collect her after which she’d take her to her new home. We could request updates about how she is but that would take time and I don’t think I’d feel calm until then. We wouldn’t know where she’d gone, who was looking after her, what they were like. Nothing.

Anyway that plan didn’t go ahead. You see a lot of the society’s work is done by the volunteers and unfortunately they’re inundated at the moment so they wouldn’t be able to come and deliver Bigs to June at a time which suits us as well as them. Also June was itching to meet Bigs. She’d been ringing the Society on a daily basis, asking when Bigs would arrive. Thus Sue and June discussed whether it’d be OK for us to bring her over ourselves and June was more than happy for that to happen.

June is compassionate and understanding. She knew we’d miss her heaps and that we would be more settled if we helped Biggie with the transition and saw where she was going for ourselves.

So that’s that really. I was sad when I came home because we thought about opening the door slowly in case she’s waiting behind it, kind of through habit; of course forgetting that she wasn’t there. This morning I remembered she didn’t need feeding as she wasn’t here but I’m not feeling the sadness which I expected to feel because I know that June will make such a fuss of her and she’ll be spoilt with love and affection.

I spoke to June just now. Biggie’s fine. 🙂 She was in and out of June’s bedroom during the night, she’s still exploring her new home, she’s eaten, used her litter tray & is now sleeping on Biggieville. 🙂

Here are some photos of Bigs in her new home