How Bella Mae came to be...

It was a warm August afternoon when Bill and I drove to Decorah (on my day off at the Co-Op) to view an apartment. Upon getting out of the car the first thing I noticed was a carmel-orangy and white kitty on the steps leading to the door of our potential home. She was thin, probably a little dirty, and wanting to get in oh-so badly. (actually, she did!)
She was vocal, friendly, and let me hold her...ahh love. I had been living without my baby Dainty for over a year. Our apartment we were moving out of did not allow pets, and I have other reasons for having Dainty live with 'Grandma'. Mainly I'm too afraid that she wouldn't adjust to 'city life'...and if anything happened to her I would die inside. I do not devote parts of my life rescuing animals to have it crumple away like dried leaves.
Anyway...on to the story at hand.
Quietly asked the landlord how he felt about fish, he was fine with that...asked him quietly how he felt about other animals (as nothing was said in the ad)...he was overall, a pet lover himself...with a few restrictions on size and claws, so long as we informed him he was fine. Also, our neighbor has a cat, he couldn't possibly say no to me with that on the table.
So, Bill and I went home to contemplate, even tho we knew from the voice of 'Omen Kitteh' that the apartment would be ours. Little did I know that my birthday wish had already manifested herself on our doorstep.
My big plan was to go and adopt a claw-less (one that had already been de-clawed due to the landlord's wishes of having a de-clawed cat vs. claws)...and also knowing that I would keep said kitty firmly indoors with no exceptions.
Honestly I think de-clawing is a horrible practice, hence why I would adopt a cat who had already been maimed...I knew the risks of a de-clawed cat...and would be patient enough to deal.
I figured waiting until my birthday rolled around would provide us ample time to adjust to our new home and start saving for our new addition. Well, 'Omen Kitteh' had plans of her own!
After sealing the deal on the apartment Bill and I moved things in each day/night. Each night I came by, Omen Kitteh would be waiting for me. I bought her some pet food from the Co-Op and fed her. Eventually sending Bill out to buy a collar for the ultimate test. Put the collar on, if it stays on she's a stray, if not she is owned.
But who would let a de-clawed cat roam around? And besides, I later found out she had a plethora of fleas...ear mites as well as an ear infection. Due to how fast she ate her food...it all pointed to that I had a legitimately homeless cat.
The anger I felt was strong...how immoral! How unkind! So after having to sent Bill out for flea shampoo and going to get ear mite medicine, etc. I said she was ours.
Now, the more scary part of the transition...the infamous 'Detox Period'...when you have adopted a cat without knowledge of their prior diet, you will most likely find your house covered in bile and lots of kitty puke. Well, at least the puking part.
It was like a scene out of the kitty exorcist...I came back to the apartment with my fish and saw Bella Mae's kitty bed totally covered in puke. She was acting very lethargic as well. I had no idea what on earth was going on, and I was on a time crunch besides! Unhappy fish in the back of my car, and all the while having to clean up kitty puke and make another trip back to town to get more things before I had to go to work!
Bill became worried, especially after he saw her poo bile on the couch. He ended up taking her to the vet...who really wasn't that concerned. I called him the next day because she had thrown up badly again and seemed really 'blah'...almost cold. I had never delt with something like this before...and I was scared to death.
He pretty much said that she was detoxing, and eliminating the toxins though bile both ways (vomit and poo). What fun! I felt like a horrid person, because to ensure she could make it to the litter I kept her locked in the bathroom for all the while during my work shift. This went on for several weeks...until finally things fell into place and she snapped out of it.
I'll never forget the 'Grand Detox' tho.
So, long story short, that is how Bella Mae came to be....and I'll insert more parts of her story on a (hopefully) regular basis.