paulinemillard.com: Operation Maestro and Mozart

Last year, Le Doug's cat of 14 years, Spitfire, died. A few months after I met Doug, my comrade Pookie the Fearless succumbed to pancreatic cancer. We were both bummed about losing our furry friends so we decided to try to find a new one. Doug loved Himalayans, Spitfire's breed, whereas I was partial to orange tabbies. We decided to try to find two Himalyan kittens.

Over the next few months I went online and found a variety of breeders, none of whom were in NYC. None we quite right, either. Some didn't have the right kind of Himalyan (we were looking for a seal or blue point) and we wanted two males. Some breeders or "catteries" were willing to ship us a kitten. (Uh, no thanks....that's just weird to get a kitten in the mail.) A few breeders that I spoke to in NYC wanted upwards of $1,000 for one cat. Geesh.

Finally one day I stopped in my local pet shop and asked if they knew any Himalyan breeders. The clerk didn't but suggested I check Petfinder.com. They had breeds of all kinds and, best of all, they were shelter cats and dogs who needed home.

I clicked around and eventually found a listing for a young Himalyan kitten named Maestro. I forwarded the link to Le Doug, who called me later that night and told me to plan on going to Montreal. He spoke with the contact in Montreal, a woman named Maggie, who said that Maestro also had a friend. After much back and forth over shots and boarding, Le Doug committed to the cats and we were on our way to Montreal, to meet "The Boys."

P.S. Montreal is an amazing city and I highly reccomend you take a long weekend up there. Old Montreal is particurally cool, for all you hep cats.

All photos from the kitty mission can be found here.

Stopping for Water and Air in the Middle of Nowhere, N.Y.