I’ll cut right to the chase for today. I am cursed.
As silly as this may sound (this is serious) I am cursed by the cat gods. My roommate and I have each been trying to get a cat for some time now and keep hitting roadblock after roadblock.
As someone who has always grown up with cats (as many as 6 at once) in the house (all strays), I always had the assumption that getting a cat is as easy as going to the store to buy milk. But boy, that has been the farthest thing from the truth. All I want is to give a cat a good home, and to raise them to love the Sabres and Bills.
The first place we tried was this really cool cat cafe near our apartment. You can go and hang out with cats for free, and see if there’s any you bond with. It seemed way too good to be true. Little did we know we needed to meet with these cats numerous times to begin the adoption process.
Between our schedules, and the wacky hours of the place we got the rug pulled out from from so many cats. Until we found a pair of cats that we each loved so much.
We both put in the hours hanging out with these two cats and were in line to take them home. I’ve never seen my roommate love something (if her girlfriend is reading this you don’t count) as much as she loved this cat.
Things were going great until the adoption place realized we were roommates and they never wanted these two cats to ever be separated. Now I love cats with all my heart, but I don’t think any cat I’ve owned would bat an eye if they magically had a new home.
Devastated and crushed, we decided to go in a different direction
My roommate had a friend of a family friend trying to give away two cats. This felt like the moment we had been waiting for. No adoption fees, no paperwork, no hours and hours of meeting before we take them home.
We were supposed to pick the cats up two weeks ago on Sunday. The day before we are supposed to pick them up arrives. I went to the pet store to get all the supplies that we would need, $200 later, we were ready to finally have some cats.
Then disaster struck.
We got a weird Facebook message from the person saying they were backing out and if we tried to contact them again they would be calling the police. Some weird shenanigans happened behind the scenes (I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about them here), but it’s safe to say we aren’t getting her cats anymore.
The sad part about this is I set the food and water bowls out and put litter in the litter box in anticipation for our new friends. It’s been two weeks and they are sitting untouched, like it’s an exhibit in a museum.
But our poor fortunes appeared to be changing. After heartbreak after heartbreak we finally felt like we got some good news.
My good friend got us in contact with another Pittsburgh shelter where she got her cats (in like less than a week from the time she put in her application). It has been nearly two weeks since we applied (with references) and it has been nothing but radio silence.
I understand that they have a small team, but I feel like this could be a sign from a higher feline power.
This story has been very chronological so far. But we are going to hop in the time machine (thank you Scout for reminding me about this) and go back a few months. I was in beautiful Ann Arbor visiting my good friend from my study abroad trip. We decided to go to a cat cafe one day with our one friend only to be turned away because the place was full.
I am not lying to you when there were only two people in this place. We were dejected and my curse has now affected my friends as well. I obviously wasn’t going to take one home, but it was still a day planned around cats that fell through.
I have always been afraid of hexes because I didn’t know what they meant. Now that I am living in one, I can confirm it isn’t ideal.
What’s next
We have had luck I didn’t even imagine was possible with cats. They are a dime a dozen back home, and it feels like it would be easier to get the Sabres a Stanley Cup than get a cat in Pittsburgh.
There’s a stray I have my eyes on back home my parents have been slowly taking care of. My only issue is that is going to be a long car ride together to get back to Pittsburgh, and I am not sure if I want to test our relationship that early.
We will either become best friends, or he will be living somewhere near Erie (I would never do that, Erie is terrible).
All this being said, am I cursed, and is this a sign I should get a hamster or something? If you are reading this and have or know of cats looking for a home in Pittsburgh, please reach out to me.
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