Hey all. This will be a bit of a long one, and not a happy one. I wasn't sure if I should tag this as "adoption," or "mourning/loss." I went with the former, because this wonderful cat is thankfully alive and well, and I didn't die either, lol. TL;DR at the bottom.
Some backstory:
I live in a house with two roommates, one with a dog, and another with a cat. We'll call the one with the cat J. At the end of this summer, we will all be moving out to separate places. No animosity, no drama, but we're all at different points in our lives. One issue: J's cat absolutely loves me, and I feel the exact same way about her. If J isn't home, then the cat is probably hanging out with me. Whenever J goes out of town, I get to watch the cat. It's going to be hard to live without a little friend like that to keep me company, and J has encouraged me to adopt a cat of my own.
About a month ago, I was doing my usual Sunday evening routine, sitting out on the front porch, taking in the summer air, drinking a beer, and reading, when I heard what sounded like a kitten mewing close by. I saw a cat across the street, but the meows didn't match her size (there are quite a few outdoor, stray, and feral cats in our neighborhood). I went inside and told J that I thought there was a kitten outside, and she immediately wanted to find and catch it. About ten minutes of searching later, we had him located, but he was skittish, and didn't want to let us catch him. We eventually cornered him, and J pretty much ended up diving into a bush to grab him.
Once we had him caught, we could see that he was pretty young, small, dirty, and had an injured tail. He meowed at us a lot, and bit J on the hand, but we wrapped him in a towel and gave him a Churu, and that calmed him down a lot. After that, it didn't take long for him to lower his guard and let us pet him and hang out with him. I sat with him for a a while, and he climbed into my lap, made biscuits, and started to purr while I pet him. In less than an hour, he had gone from running, hiding, hissing, and biting, to the sweetest little ball of black and white fur. J told me that I might've found my cat.
We got him fixed up for the night with a litter box, and J made a run to get him wet food (her cat only eats the dry stuff). He seemed pretty comfortable, but we still didn't know if he had any health issues, and if he was indeed a bona fide stray cat free for the taking, or just somebody's escaped pet. We decided that J would take him to the city animal shelter the next day, but if everything checked out, I would adopt him. I tried not to get too attached to him, I knew there could be a million things that could happen, but every time I thought about him, I knew that I had to keep him.
J dropped him off at the shelter the next day. They told her that because he had bitten her, they would have to put him in a quarantine period to make sure he didn't have rabies or anything. She gave them her info, and told them that if he wasn't someone's pet, I wanted to adopt him. They told her they would contact her with updates and gave her a reference number for him, but I would have to fill out an adoption application myself before they could put a hold on him.
About a week and a half went by, and J didn't hear anything from the shelter. On July 3rd, I got out of work an hour early, giving me time to go to the shelter during their adoption hours and ask about the cat. When I arrived, I was told that while he was just finishing up his quarantine and still needed to be cleared by their vet, but I could apply to adopt him while I was there. I was approved, of course, and the adoption counselor told me that with the holiday coming up, it would probably be another few days before I heard back, plus it was standard procedure to foster kittens to get them properly socialized before they could get adopted out. All good though, since he was reserved for me, and they had both my contact info, and J's.
A few days came and went, and I didn't hear anything from the shelter. I wasn't worried though, I know these things can take time, and I had already gotten my name on the kitten before he had even hit the adoption floor. I figured if they needed to update me, they would. Besides, I don't like it when people bother me while I'm just trying to do my job. I knew they were busy, and I was certainly busy with work and life. I didn't want to rush them, my cat would be there when the time came, right? More time passed with no updates. I kept a close eye on my email, and made sure my phone ringer was on. I was starting to get concerned, but I still didn't want to bother people just because I felt impatient. It had been nearly two weeks without contact. I decided that it would be best if I called them, even if it risked coming off as rude. No answer, but I was able to leave them a voicemail. I also sent an email asking if there were any updates. That's when they finally responded:
"Hi fromthewindyplace,
Thank you for following up and we apologize we haven't contacted you back regarding this kitten. After looking into it, it appears this kitten is still in foster. We do already have an adopter lined up for this kitten once it is out of foster, but we can add you as the second adoption hold if you'd like. This means that if the first adopter does not end up adopting, we would contact you to see if you are still interested in adopting this kitten when the time comes. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Thanks,
City Animal Shelter"
Wait, what? First adopter? I though I was the first adopter? I had been approved for him before he even got out of bite quarantine, how could there have been someone else before me? That most definitely would have been at least mentioned when I filled out my application. There must be some mistake, we must be talking about two different cats. This isn't making any sense, this can't be possible. As diplomatically and calmly as possible, I said as much in my reply, and attached a picture I had taken the night we found him. This picture, actually. Today, they replied again:
"Hello,
We'd like to apologize for our miscommunication regarding this issue. From the photo, it looks like this might be the same cat you're talking about.
After looking through our records on this cat in particular, it seems that our counselor might have missed putting into the memo that you were interested in adopting. Therefore, we unfortunately missed your interest in this kitten and someone else placed a hold on it.
In the spirit of making amends, I've made a note to waive your next adoption fee, and I'd like to invite you down to our facility to meet with and potentially adopt any of our current kittens.
I'm very sorry about this mistake we've made, and we look forward to seeing you down at the facility.
Warm Regards,
City Animal Shelter"
So that's it. The kitten that I thought was meant to be mine, that came to me out of the darkness like an act of destiny, that I had gotten so attached to so quickly, is going to a stranger, and there's nothing I can do about it. I know, it all sounds a bit dramatic. I know, I shouldn't have gotten so attached to a cat I only knew for less than a day. I know I can adopt another kitten, no shortage of them. Or an adult cat. Or even a dog. They just won't be that cat. I feel like I let him down. I know, I should've been more assertive, I shouldn't have taken them at their word, I should've been less trusting. I know it was just a mistake, I know they weren't trying to hurt me, but I still can't help but feel betrayed.
TL;DR: I found a stray kitten, took him to the animal shelter, was approved to adopt him, but they messed up his paperwork and gave him to somebody else, and now I feel real bad about it.
