Once we had our new cat friend's neuter and microchip appointment on the vet's schedule, we were in a race against time to give him an actual name for the paperwork. Nature stepped in to give us a nudge by way of putting THREE POUNDS of additional cat mass on him over the span of a little more than a month.
It became clear that he was heading in the direction of gigantic, so I threw out Moose as an idea and it stuck. Not only does "Moose" describe his probable final form, but it squeezes in a pop culture tie-in so he fits in with the rest of our gang (Xena, Trillian, Dr. Jones, Kaylee and Dottie).
For those who don't watch Supernatural, Moose was a nickname given to one of the main characters by a demon. It's a long story.
So anyway, Moose came through his surgery and brushed it off like nothing happened. The vet was stunned at how much larger he was since the last time she'd seen him. Checking my calendar, the appointment I made for him on November 8th referred to him as "black kitten" and now he looks like a full grown man. Except that his feet are enormous, so it's safe to say he has more growing to do.
Moose still lives in the basement, but we've been bringing him up to mingle with the general population every day. Dr. Jones is pretty much fine with him. Dottie is in heaven to have her favorite play buddy upstairs. Trillian and Xena are generally filled with hate, so their crabby opinions don't count.
He's a little hesitant to stay upstairs for long periods of time, but I think he'll get over that soon because he's clearly bored. I can tell because he's been exploring the upper shelves in the basement and liberating various objects to play with.
Over the past two days, he's performed surgery on the plastic bag that holds a bunch of my Christmas decorations and started removing items from it one by one. First it was the front door wreath with the wreath hanger still on it. I took the hint and hung up the wreath where it belonged. The next day there was a stocking and another wreath on the floor, so I hung them on the fireplace mantel and the other side of the door, respectively. It's like he's an Icelandic Yule Cat who ended up shilling for Christmas instead of stalking children's closets.
All in all, Moose is a very soft, gentle, sweet guy and I'm looking forward to having him integrated fully into the household. I certainly wasn't looking to add another cat to our menagerie, but he's a good one.
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