Ivan has arrived!

I'm skipping forward past the next two days of the festival (be assured, I will cover Saturday and Sunday!) to bring you the Tale of Adopting Ivan, our 14-month-old Russian Blue cat. You may recall hearing about him from a previous post.

After the festival, we stayed at my parents' in NY state overnight, then drove 4 1/2 hours (not the 3 1/4 Yahoo Maps predicted, and I am not counting lunch/bathroom breaks) to fetch Ivan in eastern Massachusetts. Beth, the breeder, brought him down--a lean and handsome boy with a very triangular face and huge ears. He went to Ken first, but I was the first to pet him. We talked with Beth. She told us he is a 'leaper' (which we learned much more about later that evening!) and liked to tap on the computer keys. "Great! a geek cat!" I said to Ken later). Beth showed us the vet reports, adoption papers, etc., while we got to know Ivan and vice versa. He was putting his paws on my legs (never quite got up the nerve to get in my lap), batting around the feathers on a Feline Flyer (a small fishing-pole-type toy with feathers on the end), sharpening his claws on Ken's (sweatshirt-clad) back, and climbing around on him. Ken got him into the cat carrier without incident.

For most of the long ride to NJ, where we were staying for the night, Ivan looked pretty darn panicked--wide eyes with huge pupils so you could hardly see his eyes are green. I (as the passenger) would periodically recline my chair and talk soothingly to him. We were listening to and singing Beatles songs on the way to NJ (as we had most of the way from my parents' to Massachusetts.) He seemed to like the songs, especially when I sang to him (his eyelids lowered a bit). Then I sang him some lullabyes ("go to sleep, go to sleep little kitty...") which helped too.

We got settled at Ken's aunt and uncle's house and left him in the guest bedroom with the cat carrier door opened. When we checked back in, he was, naturally, under the bed.

He stayed that way till we had drifted off to sleep, around 11:30 or midnight, when we heard a loud noise. He had jumped up on the valance above the window (probably using the dresser as a jumping-off place) and was skittering down the blinds. He did this two more times. He also used my suitcase as a scratching post, jumped around on our feet (Ken wiggled his toes for him to pounce on) and actually once crawled into bed with us for a few minutes, between me and Ken. We kept waking up till he settled down sometime in the middle of the night but it was worth it. He was such fun!

The next morning he was quiet again (well, heck, all that expended energy!) He seemed less panicked during the ride back home to Maryland, though I don't think "Jesus Christ Superstar" suited him as well as the Beatles. We got him home and put him into the bathroom (which Ken set up with litterbox, water and food). We peeked in while we were settling in and he had gotten into the tub, so Ken put a towel in there to keep him comfy and warm. Then we went out to dinner.

When we got back, Ken walked in the bathroom and said to me, "Careful, both the drawers are open. He's behind them." No way, I thought, did that cat get the sink-vanity drawers open and get behind them. Sure enough, he had. "Why did we have to get a cat from a highly intelligent breed?" I demanded, though I'm really pleased we have a young genius living here. Fits right in with my husband. We've petted him and played with him a bit, but have given him some "alone time" to recover from the trauma of being hauled away from his breeder, playmates and old home, journeying much farther than the vet's and getting to a new place with two comparative strangers.

So far, so good. I'm sure there will be a lot more for me to blog about in the future (not to mention pictures, once Ivan is calm enough to deal with a camera flash!)


p.s. from Wednesday a.m.: I went in to brush my teeth at about 11pm, and there was Ivan, curled up in the *sink*! It is oval and he does fit in it perfectly, I have to admit. He got behind the sink-vanity drawers again during the night too.