Quentin

Quentin -- February 4, 2012

You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote about our friend John who died -- way too early for any of us to comprehend or want to accept.

John had a lot of friends and we got to meet his sister Susan through his passing.

He also left behind one important family member:

Quentin.

We offered to foster Quentin or give him a permanent home if he had nowhere else to go.

We did the same thing years ago with Gaele (even though in that case there wasn't a death, but a move) and that turned out so well . . . . our pets seem to find us sometimes. :-)

A few weeks after John's death Susan decided Quentin should live with us.

Last Sunday was the day. I went over to John's and we packed up Quentin, along with enough toys to entertain ten cats.

The first day with Quentin was sheer hell. I've not seen an animal that angry in recent memory. I was convinced he hated me for being the one that uprooted him from the only home he ever knew (and I had the scratches to prove it). But it wasn't just me. He hated Glenn. Our house. Sammy. Brinley. Everything.

In the past six days Quentin has gone from being an only pet in a stable home to being one of five pets in a stable, brand new home.

He's relaxing now and his friendly, curious personality comes out more and more each day. He's only two years old so he's quite the athlete, jumping effortlessly from place to place (at sixteen, my Sammy doesn't jump a ton anymore).

He still gets angry occasionally.

Quentin as a kitten -- taken from John's Facebook Album

He really doesn't like Brinley -- the good thing is that he's smart, and he's learning from Sammy that Brinley is harmless (Sam puts up with Brinley).

Sam has acknowledged his existence and he hers.

Quentin is finding his place in our family, and we are honored to have him, not just because we're animal lovers (and because I have a special affinity for handsome orange cats), but because we're honoring John's memory by having him here.

Nothing better than that -- I think John would be happy!