River of Honey: Meet Meeka

Topic of the day: My new kitten!!

So after going through a horrific experience with the last breeder I restarted my search for a new kitten. I came across Rasta Ragdolls and saw a similar colored kitten as the last one but this one was a female! A blue mink bicolor ragdoll. What luck! Mink's are a rare color in the Ragdoll Breed. They have aqua colored eyes and a plusher fluffier coat and are simply beautiful!

http://www.rastaragdolls.com/

I highly recommend Heidi from Rasta Ragdolls. She's super sweet and so helpful with everything it just made me feel like it was destiny meeting her. I think that there was a reason I had a horrible time with the last lady, Elina, so that I can meet Heidi. :)

There wasn't a picture of her Papa but this is Meeka's Mama:

(Her Mama is a Blue Bicolor Mink)

I think Meeka will grow up to look just like her Mama!

She had a beautiful litter of five kittens!

Here are their pictures. So cute!

The top left is a Seal Sepia Bicolor Female, On the top right is a Seal Bicolor Male,

The bottom left a Blue Sepia Bicolor Female. And the bottom right is a Blue Bicolor Male.

I'm happy to say everything went smoothly in terms of working out an arrangement and payment methods for the kitten. Thank goodness! After the last breeder, this was a breath of fresh air! The problem arose with the airline. Never use United Airlines. My breeder would always use Continental but apparently they merged with United so this was her first time using them after they joined. She booked the flight for the 16th and dropped off the kitty at 5am that morning. I requested for a straight flight with no layovers. The told her the flight would land in 5 hours and I would receive my kitten at 2:55pm in the afternoon. I woke up early that and ran around to Target, Petsmart and Petco to gather last minute things for the kitten.

A few hours later I receive a call from Heidi saying that she received a call from the Airline and that there was a two hour delay because the plane was being worked on. The new departure time changed to 9am and she would arrive to me at 4:55pm. I thought okay, two hours is not so bad. She told me the attendants had given the kitten some food and water.

At 3 I'm over in Baltimore getting ready to leave for the airport (Dallas Virginia) when I receive yet ANOTHER call saying it has been delayed again, the flight was changed and the kitten was put on a new plane that should arrive at 9pm that night. Argh. This was frustrating. Not only are the flight delays messing up my plans (it was Father's Day) but I felt so bad for the kitten. 10 weeks old and in a cage for practically the whole day.

I receive yet another call from Heidi saying she just checked the status on the website of the flight and it seems the kitten is being delivered to a different airport!! I call the airline and speak with a very obnoxious stupid indian lady who has no information to give me, can't tell me anything about the flight because I'm not authorized to receive that information. I tell her I'm picking up the kitten from the airport I NEED to know where I'm picking her up otherwise she'll be stuck there forever! She's like sorry I cant help. So I call Heidi and let her know the situation she calls the lady and calls me back to tell me that the kitten is being delivered to Washington Regan Airport. Great. I reroute the GPS, as I'm driving down there Heidi gives me a call and lets me know she just spoke with someone that was on the Airline itself and that it is in fact landing at it's original location in Dallas Virginia. *sigh* This is never ending.

I arrive at the Airport and drive over to Cargo where Heidi tells me is the location I have to pick up the kitten. It's late it's dark I don't know where I'm going. I find some people chilling outside of cargo and ask them where I go to pick up my pet. They say go inside the Airport. I'm like no I was told to go to Cargo, they say I was given wrong information and I have to go inside the Airport. I'm confused so I drive a little further into Cargo and see another group of people and ask them the same question, they don't understand because they don't speak English but they just say Airport Parking Garage. So I'm like FINE. I park in the Parking Garage and realize I am so far from the Airport and there is a huge wall blocking our path. Like an idiot I climb over the wall (it was pretty difficult at least 12 ft high) walk through a thicket of trees and end up facing a huge highway that I have to cross to get to the Airport. I walk back, climb down the wall, park in the main parking area that's right in front of the Airport, walk inside and ask someone where I go to pick up my pet. I'm told to go to United Airlines for that information as that is the flight the kitten was on. United Airlines is clear across the whole Airport. I run to the other side only to find out I must pick up my kitty from CARGO.

Are you freaking kidding me? This is getting ridiculous.

After paying for parking TWICE I drive to Cargo past those ignorant fools who I wanted to hit with a water balloon for giving me misleading information and arrive at a half lit sign of United Airlines Cargo. As I walk in I see the receptionist has the kitten on the desk playing and being able to stretch. Aww, poor thing. Now she has to be shoved back in her cage for an hour and a half drive home. The receptionist said the kitten has been sneezing quite a lot and might have caught a cold. I know she got sick from the plane ride because she had just visited the vet the day before and was perfectly fine. Great now I have a sick kitty. Heidi was so sweet. It wasn't her fault the airline was getting screwed up but she kept apologizing. In the end the kitten was home safe with me at midnight although very under the weather. I took her to the vet two days later to treat her eye infection and cold.

According to my calculations this is the amount I've spent on her so far:

$750 - Kitten Price

$350 - Flight Ticket

+ $181 - Petco Supplies

$160 - Vet Bill

$50 - Target

_________________

$1500

I guess that's expected when your buying a purebred animal. Whether it be a dog, cat, bird or exotic pet. Well hopefully now that I have the bulk of her necessities the future should hold less of a burden. I'm hoping that I can lower her needs down to $50 a month on cat litter and cat food. Maybe a new toy now and again. I'm sure you're waiting for updated pictures! :)

Supplies

I don't have any pictures of her coming home in her cage/carrier, it was depressing that she was shoved up in there for so long not to mention stinky. Her first "safe-haven" was the bathroom. I didn't have a lot of room to place the things that I bought her. I wanted her to get comfortable and used to her surroundings first. A little bit at a time so she doesn't get overwhelmed.

Now she's moved into a much larger space. What we call the "Japanese" room. We don't use the basement much aside from storage. So she has free run of one whole side of the basement. It's quite spacious and large. She loves running back and forth slipping and sliding on the hardwood floor. She has a few favorite spots she likes hanging around that she's claimed for herself.

The windowsill is where she loves hanging out, taking naps, watching birds on the lawn and enjoying the warm breeze that flows in. She came from California where they have amazing weather all year round. I'm sure she misses the beautiful weather because she gets so happy and excited whenever I open the window or open the door (that has a screen so she doesn't run out).

Whenever she wants to go outside she stands up on her little hind legs and looks wistfully to the great outdoors looking up at me and meowing. I've taken her onto this tiny patio we have and on the grass maybe two or three times. Now that she's used to her surroundings and comfortable she's starting to venture out. Of course I would never let her roam free, only under my watchful eye. When she's older I hope to get her used to a harness so I can take her for walks on our long driveway.