I am a cat mom now!

I made a huge commitment last Sunday - I adopted a cat from BC SPCA!

If you told me that I would have a cat about a year ago, I would never have believed you. I grew up with a small Pomeranian (RIP Towel) and I have loved dogs all my life. I have always imagined that I would have a small dog but ever since I met my friend Deepak’s cat Suki, I totally fell in love with cats!

I have never planned to get pets in college or during the first couple of years of my professional life. I have always scared of the lifetime commitment and the efforts that owners had to put in to care for their pets. I was also afraid that having a pet would be disruptive to my lifestyle - before the pandemic, I took long leisure trips at least once a year, and I would also spend a significant time visiting family in China. Therefore, owning a pet seems to be an irresponsible thing to do at the time.

However, after I transferred to Microsoft Vancouver and had to work from home full-time due to Covid-19 pandemic, I realized how lonely I was every day. The idea of having a pet was then seeded in my mind.

Initially my landlord doesn’t allow pets in my rental apartment at all. Once my first-year rental contract is up, I started pegging my landlord about allowing a pet. Despite initial hesitations, my landlord caved and granted me permission to have a small cat, though I had to pay extra pet deposit and a slightly higher rent every month. As soon as I obtained my landlord’s approval, I started searching for rescue cats that I would like to adopt.

I have always been very against buying pets from breeders, because there are so many homeless animals in need of a forever home, so I was only going to adopt a kitty from a shelter or a rescue group.

I spent hours every day browsing rescue societies’ web and FB pages to check available cats for adoption. I refresh BC SPCA and Petfinder websites and apps daily, and apply to every cat that peaked interests in me. Finally, on a Thursday evening, when I opened my Petfinder app for some casual browsing just before bed, I saw a new adoption post - a young domestic short-hair & Siamese kitty’s profile was just uploaded. As soon as I saw his photos, I had a feeling that this is the cat I want. Immediately, I applied for him on BC SPCA website.

As if everything is meant to be, I got a call from BC SPCA the next day to chat about the young domestic short-hair & Siamese kitty. I had a pleasant conversation with the SPCA staff, where we talked about the kitty’s personality, foster-home behavior and how I would take care of him. When Sunday comes around, I Uber-ed to West Vancouver SPCA and took Tomlette home.

We are waiting for an Uber to get home

As soon as we get home, Tomlette found a crack under my bed and went straight in. He also started meowing almost non-stop. I put his food, litter box and water fountain in my bedroom to make him feel comfortable, then I just went off to finish up my other errands.

The first night was rough for both of us. Tomlette meowed all night and zoomed around the apartment. I couldn’t sleep either because I was always worried about him. However, starting the second day, Tomlette started eating, sleeping, playing and using the litter box properly. By day 3, I was even able to rub his chin and give him a proper grooming session.

Tomlette ventures out from under the bed cautiously

As a first-time cat mom, I am still learning how to take care of him. I still yet to learn how to cut his nails, bathe him, wash his ears and brush his teeth when needed. Tomlette’s life depends on me now. Because he was rescued with 70 other cats from a motor home in Squamish, he was under-socialized and is still a bit skittish. However, he is getting out of his shell more and more every day, and I can’t wait for many happy times ahead of us <3.