Animal lovin'

Don't tell me you didn't melt the second you saw that photo.

Don't worry, I melt every single time I see her cute face. How could you not?

January 18th, 2021. The day this little girl came into my and my boyfriend's lives.

Before adopting Birdie, I never thought my boyfriend would let me adopt a cat with him. He has, and always will be, a dog person. He lost his dog, Bailey, last summer so it's pretty fresh. RIP Bailey, we miss you. <3

When he told me he wouldn't mind getting a cat, I was SHOCKED. I was sure we wouldn't get one for a while, if at all.

I love dogs, don't get me wrong. I've also had dogs and cats all my life, so a cat seemed like a good companion to have right now while we are living in an apartment.

I also started a full-time job working from home, in my little makeshift office space in our bedroom, and was a little lonely during the day. Bringing Birdie home changed that. I now have a pet that I can visit throughout the day and share life with.

Adopting Birdie was a process.

We first saw her at Petsmart, after looking at endless humane and animal shelters in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area.

Backstory on her name: Birdie was found as a stray. She was 2 years old when we adopted her. The shelter that she was brought to named her Birdie because of her adorable high-pitched meow that mimics a bird call. We loved it so much we didn't change her name.

When choosing a cat to adopt, I usually make my decision based on how playful or loving they are towards me the first time I see them through the glass. If I meow or try to get their attention and they come right up to the glass, I take that as a win. I'm sold if a cat rubs their cheeks against the glass.

Birdie was just that. In her description, it stated she would crawl up on our laps and cuddle. That was exactly what I wanted. We almost immediately knew she was the one.

We found out after trying to look at another cat in a different shelter, that COVID had complicated the adoption process. Of course, another thing COVID has made difficult in the past year.

We had to send a form in, wait to hear back, schedule a meet & greet with Petsmart, schedule another appointment to sign her forms, and THEN we could take her home.

Mind you, we didn't find this out until we were planning on bringing Birdie home that same day, on a Wednesday. Safe to say, it wasn't until almost a week after we saw her.

After filling out the form and scheduling a meet and greet, we honestly thought we could just drive over and sign the forms at the shelter she was from. We thought wrong.

Because we had to make an appointment and they didn't have any available slots that day, we had to shoot for another day. My boyfriend was working very weird hours at a previous job at the time and so we couldn't get in to sign paper until the Monday after the Saturday we met her.

Me, being the emotional trainwreck that I am, balled my eyes out at the meet & greet after we found out we couldn't officially pick her up that same day.

That weekend was agonizing. I wasn't living with my boyfriend at the time and once Monday came around, I was only going to have 2 days with her before heading back to my apartment for almost another week. Of course I was upset.

Monday finally comes around and we get to bring Birdie home. I was over the moon.

We pick her up and take her home. We had already picked up all of her supplies on that Saturday when we thought she would be coming home with us. All that we had to do now was introduce her to our apartment and life with us.

She was extremely timid at first and only wanted to hide under the couch and sniff everything.

Soon enough, she became acclimated enough and stopped hiding under the couch from us. She visits me throughout the workday in the bedroom and climbs up on my lap to cuddle.

She will meow at us every 5 seconds and have a full-on conversation if she wants to. She eats very expensive food, but it's worth it for her.

I admit, sometimes I will think about how good of a life we have given her, and cry because she is so sweet. We love her endlessly and are so glad we gave her a forever home.

Here are a few more pictures of our sweet girl, because we think she is so cute and should be shared with the world.

I encourage everyone to adopt at some point in their lives. You are essentially saving a pet's life. A lot of pets in shelters come off the streets or from bad homes that just let them wander off and disappear.

You have a chance to give a pet an entirely different life; a wonderful life. This is my fur-baby, the only baby I will be having in the near future, and she is loved with our whole hearts.

Please visit your local shelters or browse their websites to see what kind of pet you could bring home today!

#AdoptNotShop

I hope you enjoyed this article about my only daughter, Birdie. I would love to hear all about your fur babies, but for now, please give my article a quick like and have a wonderful weekend!

BYE!!