Monday, June 15, 2009

Let's GET Abby's Party Started!!

Today is a very special day -- not only is it our First Blogoversary, but it's also the 1-year anniversary of Abby Normal's GOTCHA Day!!! All of the pictures featured in today's post were taken in the first week of living in her new home with us lucky humans.

On the very first day that she lived with us, Abby spent almost all of her time sleeping with and ON Mr. R. It was to the point where he had a constant neck-ache named Abby, but he would not move so he would not disturb her. She doesn't sleep there anymore, and he misses his neck-ache. Perhaps it is because she only weighed 5 pounds when we got her, whereas she weighs 11 pounds now. So, instead of sleeping on Mr. R and his chair, she chooses to endorse him by sitting right under his chair.

One of Abby's favorite games in the entire world is FETCH. The cats we knew before Abby loved to chase after and play with the little toy mice that we had for them, but none of them ever carried them right back to us, so it came as a delightful surprise when Abby did just that.

We still play Fetch almost every single day!

The first time we saw Abby, she was one of many, many meowing and hopeful-eyed sad cats in their cages at the SPCA. Actually, Abby wasn't meowing when I first saw her; every time I walked by, she rolled and gazed up at me, almost with a smile on her face. Sad as I felt for all of the other cats who meowed and begged for the attention and love they were starving for, there was something other than pleading in the gaze we exchanged. At that moment I knew she was going to be Our Cat.


We first heard her voice when the woman working at the SPCA took Abby out of her cage and handed her to us so we could visit with her. Perched on Mr. R's shoulder, she let out a loud and piercing, kittenish wide-mouthed "Reeeow!" that expressed her anxiety at being in a situation full of frantic cats, and also her excitement at being held and released from her cage into the friendly arms of a human.

"Shall we take this cat home with us?" I asked Mr. R, and he responded with a smile and a nod. Instead of putting her in the carrier, he sat with her in the back seat and held and patted her as I chaufferred us all back to our home, Abby's new home.

Some cats go into hiding right away when confronted with a new home/location. Abby never did, she moved right in without missing a beat, as if she had never been abandoned to the SPCA, as if she'd always lived with us.

This is one of Mr. R's favorite early photos of her:

At the SPCA, the little index card on her cage said her name was Abby. Like many adoptive "parents," we thought beforehand that we were going to probably rename her to something we preferred, but the name stuck. We simply added to it, so she is Abby Normal. She knows her name, all you have to do is say it and she will look at you, or come to you if she is so inclined. Who is the luckier, her or us? I'd say, it is all of us.

18 comments:

michico*Adan*Lego-小芥*阿丹*樂高 said...

Happy Happy Gotcha Day, Abby~!
You are so big now!

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

A day of CELEBRATIONS Abby!!!!!! Happy Gotcha Day! And Happy Blogaverary to all of you! It's clear you made the right choice, Abby, as did Ms.C and Mr.R, and we are so happy to know that you are loved as much as any cat could be!

Your Friends,
Tommy, Tama-Chan and Sei-Chan

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

Happy Gotcha Day and Blogiversary, Abby!

I play fetch too. It is so great ta haf The Big Thing keep tossin the toys in every whichway!

Iza

Parker said...

Gotcha' Days are the very best days and we are so happy that Abby got gotcha'd by you!

Meowers from Missouri said...

oh, happy gotcha day, abby!!! (we's a day late an' a coupla dollars short, but that don't mean our meows an' purrs fur your glorious day are any less sincere!) we hopes you an' yer fambly celebrate many, many happy, healthy gotcha days!!

Shilgiah the Cat said...

Dear Little Abby,
Happy Gotcha Day plus one! And Happy Blogoversary also!

May you and your people and Stygiah continue to have a wonderful life in the years to come.
Lots of love,
Shilgiah, Tommy and Hope (and their human mom)

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

TWO celebrations in one -- how exciting! Happy one year Gotcha Day Abby and also happy first year of blogging! We are all so glad that you found such a loving and wonderful home. We wish you many many more wonderful celebrations!

purrs
Abby

Anonymous said...

Happy Gatchaversay and Blogoversary, Abby! We're so glad you all found each other!

Freya's Staff said...

hah! that's the same for us - We decided we would rename Freya, and spent hours thinking of a new cool name, but it kept coming back to Freya being the best!

Freya's staff
xxx

Daisy said...

Happy blogoversary! And happy Gotcha Day to Abby! The story of how Abby was gotted is very sweet.

Mr. Black said...

Happy Gotcha Day Miz Abby.

I like those photos. You are a lucky cat.

I snuck into the city library to use their WiFi. Our dialup is no good anymore. Just wanted to say hi.

Anonymous said...

This is a red-letter day for you! Happy 1st Gotcha Day to sweet Abby, and happy 1st blogoversary to all of you -- keep up the good work!

In honor of both those big occasions, you have been tagged for the International Bloggers Award - if you don't already have this one then please stop by our blog and pick it up.

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

Sorry we are late. Happy Gotcha Day Abby and happy first blogoversary.

The Island Cats said...

Hi ya, Abby! Sorry we are late for your Gotcha Day party! We're so glad you got gotted! We hope you had a great day!!

And Happy Blogoversary too!

(pee ess. yesterday was Wally's 6th birthday, so this has been quite the party week!)

Niko and Cloud said...

Happy Gotcha Day Abby!

Cat Street Boyz said...

From all us Boyz, we wish you a very HAPPY GOTCHA DAY ABBY!!!!!=^Y^=the Cat Street Boyz....Toy,Tinker,Tang,TyGr,Teak,Cherokee & Setzer

Cat with a Garden said...

Happy belated Gotcha Day & Blogaversary, Abby!

Charlemagne and Tamar said...

Wishing a wonderful year and a belated Happy Gotcha day! We've really enjoyed reading about your adventures, Abby!

Charlemagne and Tamar