Baby Steps, Cat's Paws

M and I went down to the Pet Corral last evening and looked at the 7 cats they had. One was in an open cage at the front of the store, was cute, but not overly responsive to either of us. In the back of the store there were three in the upper windowed viewing room and three in the lower.

In the upper area was a black with some white highlights (reminded me a lot of my buddy Chris' cat Sam) short-hair, another was a sleek grey with black stripes short-hair with an evil look (no, seriously-- looked like it just wanted to rip our throats out), and the third was a large grey and white short-hair cat.

In the lower area was another grey and black striped short-hair, a white and gray/black short-hair, and a medium-hair black/orange mixed cat.

As we cooed and watched them, the black/orange was definitely interested in me. It came whenever I put my hand by the glass, rolled over on its back, and was generally very interested. The black cat had some interest in M, but not enough to really get up and say hello. After it finally woke up and decided to stretch, however, the large gray/white definitely became interested in M and definitely liked me. It walked by us and rubbed against the glass whenever either of us put our hand up.

My guess is the gray/white was about 2-3 years old and the rest were around 1-ish, from their size (all looked fully grown) and the level of activity of each.

As they were in the process of cleaning up the shop and seemed fairly busy for that time, we didn't ask to interact with any of them, although I admit I would have liked to.

Two positives: M wanted to go looking (but not purchasing or taking home-- baby steps) at the cats with me and she commented that the one that liked us both was "like a gray Caly."

She also got to see a little of what our friends and I have been saying about getting two cats-- the gray striped and black/orange cats got to playing and entertaining each other, and also spent some time grooming each other. While I doubt we will be a two-cat household, she did get to see it in action a bit and it helps her understanding of why we say these things.

We have some plans to go to another location and view some more cats in the near-ish future. Again, without any immediate pressure to get a cat, but just to look and see if any like M and if she likes any of them. I think she could be convinced on the gray/white we saw yesterday, but I'm trying my best not to put undue pressure on her -- if I do and she winds up hating the animal, that would be a strain that we do not need.

It was a cutey, though. ;-)