I'm a weak willed parent

[violiavampyr]

So over Thanksgiving weekend my cat, Spike, of unknown age died. He was a good looking black cat. Hit by a car. BF was at work so my dad came a took care of the body. My daughter was really broken up. Spike had been living with us for about 7 years, so most of her life. I said no cats. None. Maybe next year.

What happens just now. I get a text from one of the kids: "Can we keep it?"
Uh-oh. Staring back at me is a pretty orange and white cat. Oh boy. I'm a sucker for orange cats.
Kids says: Dad said it was up to you.
Really?
And it's a girl cat. No way to tell if it's spayed or not.

So I say yes, but if the dog reacts poorly to it (he lived with my old cat, but that cat was an ex-farm cat and used to dogs. Before him I had an orange cat that was mean and chased the dog I had at the time) or it reacts poorly to the dog the cat goes.

We'll see how it goes. I'll post pics later.

[Kittish]

Awwwww. How old does she appear to be? If she's pretty young chances are better that she'll take a dog in stride, and if the dog got along pretty well with Spike I think he'll be ok with a new cat so long as she doesn't try to murder him on sight.

If she's adult, or near adult, I think a vet can check whether she's been spayed. Or look for the scar on her belly (if it isn't courting painful death to touch her belly), it would be maybe an inch long right between her back legs.

Looking forward to pics!

[Kazim]

I really can't resist posting this: http://acidsquirrel.com/post/38313

[violiavampyr]

Looks to be about a year, give or take. Buster (dog) is almost two. He's an excitable boxer/beagle that got the boxer size genes. He's neutered, so he's doing better than he was as far as excitability.

[mathnerd]

Well, you did tell the kids "next year", and it *is* the next year after Thanksgiving week.

[violiavampyr]

A couple not so great shots. I think she's less than a year. Almost certain a student dumped her after they left. She was pretty hungry and stressed, but I couldn't really tell if she was sick or not. Her third eyelids were pretty noticeable, but it might just be from stress and exhaustion. Right now she's snoozing on a chair. Buster's mostly just sniffed at her, but he keeps walking around making sounds. Not really barking, not really growling. Talking?
The two kids that found her decided to call her "Snook". Really kids?

Here's some bonus cats, both deceased.
Chester (named for the Bunnicula cat) 1993-2006
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/S5030117.jpg


Spike, named for Spike the vampire by my daughter because we were watching a Buffy marathon when he showed up. :/ ????-2013
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...a/S5031419.jpg

ETA: pardon the messy freezer- it's part of my baking/decorating area.

[ADeMartino]

i think she's gonna be your best friendl

[cindybubbles]

Why didn't they add the "i" to her name and call her Snooki?

[mathnerd]

Pretty sure you've been adopted by a cat.

[Aethian]

She's a pretty girl...keep her Mom!

[Kit-Ginevra]

The dog-should get on fine with.
I'm more worried that when I clicked on it to get a closer view,your other pics came up.And you appear to have a Roman army in the kitchen.How will she deal with them?

[Seshat]

At least here, they also tattoo their ears when they spay them. The mark is in the left ear.

Get her vet-checked anyway. You need to know if she has FIV or ticks, should get her microchipped, and give her her shots and her first anti-parasite treatments. The vet can easily enough check for spaying while doing that.

A clever trick I've heard of for multi-animal families: the vet provides the supply of anti-parasite stuff (the one you put on the back of their necks) and a syringe. You draw off the dose for the smaller animal from the pre-pack vial, give it to the smaller animal from the syringe, and use the rest of the vial on the larger.
It only works when the mix for both animals is the same, and there's a dosage for sale that's suitable for doing this. But it's cheaper than buying two prepackaged sets; one for each animal.

[dendawg]

If you haven't already named her, might I suggest Ginger?

[MoonCat]

Have the vets double-check the sex. Most orange cats are male. If it's really a girl, you've got something unusual there

[Kagato]

I'd recommend the very first thing you do before you do ANYTHING, take the cat to the vet and get it checked for a pre-existing microchip. Last thing you want is to get all this stuff done only to go and get it microchipped and HELLO! The previous owner already has a fully functioning microchip implanted in the cat with their details.