A new addition to the family

  And no, it's not a baby!

Meet Basil, our new puddy cat.

We adopted him from the Cats Protection League in Belfast last Sunday after being assessed by them and approved a few days earlier.  The kids couldn't wait to pick out their new pet.  We had already been told about Basil and so we met him first and fell in love with him.  Tarja and Barney came with me to choose him.  But it was hard to choose. So many beautiful, friendly cats, all waiting for a home. How does one choose?? In the end we went with Basil because he was super friendly and we'd already seen photos of him and had him in mind. 

It took well over an hour to get home, because it was rush hour. But Basil sat in his box on Tarjas lap and made no fuss at all.  We had been told to keep him alone in a room for a day or two until he got used to the new environment, and to expect him to be out of sorts and scared.  

But when we opened his box up at home, he came straight out, jumped down, did his own tour of EVERY room in the house and then started purring and cuddling! Within no time at all he was up on my knee, lapping up the love and making himself at home.

The kids absolutely adore him, and I get the impression he will be very happy here. He used to live on a farm before it was demolished and he became homeless. I can tell that he really wants to get outside into the great outdoors, but he will have to wait a few weeks until he is allowed. 

The first night he snuck onto by bed in the night and took as much space up as he could! He is going to be one spoilt kitty!