When my senior Manx cat passed I knew I would want another Manx. I learned of a rescue that had just taken custody of 49 Manx and Bob tail cats. They were all living with their owner in a studio apartment.
When most of the cats had been vetted and taken to a "staging" apartment so that they could be seen and adopted I made the 3 hour journey. Imagine! I had to choose one cat from the 38 who were there.
When I arrived there were indeed cats everywhere. It was like a beautiful collage of fur and whiskers. 2 1/2 hours later I was still meeting cats and feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Finally, the very patient volunteer said, "let's move the love seat. They like to hide under there." Sure enough! There was a perfect rectangle of cats jigsaw-puzzled together under there. They scattered immediately.
Finally I stood, dazed and not moving. Suddenly I heard a squeeky 'meow'. I turned to see a scrappy orange and white manx looking up at me. It took 10 minutes for me to coax him into letting me pet him. He purred very loudly. His collar indicated that he was the 47th cat of the original 49 to be caught by the rescuers.
Once I had patted him no matter where I walked in the apratment the orange cat was two steps ahead, looking back into my eyes and meowing as if to say, "It's me you ninny! You have to take me!" And that's what I did.
Had we known what a lover Noah would become we would have named him Romeo! He is truly as sweet as the day is long.
Barnstead, NH
