Well, it’s official. As you all probably guessed when we announced that we were fostering little Gryphon, we have decided he is here to stay. Welcome to the family, Gryphon Purranha Hall!
*Side note: Gryphon’s middle name comes from his bad habit of wanting to bite everything (hence the piranha reference) and the fact that he has the loudest purr ever.
Bobby pretty much knew we were going to keep little Gryph the day we brought him home to foster. I held out though. But then at Christmas, I gave in and told Bobby we could keep him. This past week, we signed the adoption forms and made it officially official!
It has been so much fun having a little kitten in the house. This was our first experience having such a young one. With the exception of Delilah and Sampson, all of our cats were either already full-grown or close to it when we adopted them. Even Delilah and Sampson weren’t as young as Gryphon. Seeing him grow and develop, watching him go through different phases, has been amazing.
In honor of our exciting announcement, I thought I’d share some of the Gryphon Highlights we’ve experienced so far.
The Unforgettable Night
Gryphy wasn’t fully litter box trained yet when he came to us. He had accidents, made messes, and had to be bathed daily. For his first few weeks, we kept him crated when we weren’t home and at night. He did so well with the crate and never made a peep at night when we put him to bed. Except for one night. He woke me up at about 2am crying and carrying on and slamming the door to the crate trying to get it open. I tried to ignore him at first, but then I realized that that was unusual behavior for him. Something must been wrong! Something was wrong indeed…
I got out of bed, grabbed my phone to use as a flashlight, and shone it on little Gryph in his crate. What I saw was the stuff of nightmares. Poop. EVERYWHERE! He was covered from head to tail, the crate was covered from floor to ceiling – literally, there was poop on the ceiling. I will never know how such a small kitten made such a huge mess.
Anyway, I opened his crate, pulled him out, and gave him a bath. Thankfully we had another crate, so I just put the other one in a trash bag and threw it out – crate, bedding, litter box and all. There was no way I was even going to attempt to clean that thing. And of course, Bobby slept through the whole ordeal…
Gryphon the Copy Cat
One of my favorite phases so far has been Gryphy’s Copy Cat Phase. After he had been with us for a few weeks, he started copying the other cats. Sampson was his favorite to copy. If he saw Sampson sitting a certain way, Gryphy would mimic him. If he saw Sampson playing a certain way, Gryphy would mimic him.
One night, we scattered catnip all over the floor and got out some catnip toys. Sampson is a HUGE nip head and quickly fell into a catnip stupor. They say that cats aren’t affected by catnip until they’re about 6 months old, but Gryphon saw the way Sampson was acting and started copying him. So freakin’ adorable.
It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life. I suppose mimicking is one of the ways kittens learn from their mothers. Sampson has taught him well!
Bonding
Watching Gryphon bond and form relationships with our other cats has been so much fun. He is FULL of the usual playful kitten energy. Thankfully Kylo Ren never grew out of that phase, so he has finally met his match in Gryphon. The two of them romp and play and chase each other every day. Gryphon and Sophie are a pretty sweet pair too. Sophie makes friends with everyone, so it isn’t surprising that she and Gryph are buds. They wrestle and play too, but they can also be found snuggling together.
Even Raddy has joined in the play fest. I’m so glad that he has taken a liking to Gryphon. Caster was Raddy’s best friend, and he struggled a lot after Caster died. To see him chase and play with little Gryph has been heartwarming, to say the least.
And of course, Gryphon has been bonding with Bobby and me too. When he was an itty bitty kitten, I would put him in my shirt to snuggle, which he loved. Even though he has gotten bigger (he weighs over 3 times what he weighed when we first brought him home!), he still loves shirt snuggles. He also has an adorable habit of kissing me on the mouth every time I pick him up. I hope he never grows out of these sweet habits of his!
Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed reading the Gryphy highlights so far. We are so excited to have him join the family officially. We can’t wait for the many more wonderful memories we will create with him!
Gryphon Stats
Date of arrival: December 1, 2019
Weight then: 1 lb. 0.6 oz.
Age then: estimated to be 5-6 weeks old
Date of decision to adopt him: December 25, 2019
Official adoption date: January 24, 2020
Current weight (as of 2/4/20): 3 lbs. 7.3 oz.
Current age: 14-15 weeks old
Summer says
Gryphon is SUCH an awesome addition to your family! He’s smart, he’s adorable and you get to see him grow up too! What a special boy, and I’m so glad you adopted him.
Eastside Cats says
Aww, this is wonderful…Welcome, Gryphon! So adorable. Congratulations to the whole family.
The J-Cats says
Oh, he is absolutely adorable! We look forward to read more about his antics and adventures.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Gryphon.
Fr. Tom Fishworthy says
How could you not help but get attached? What an adorable kitty, stealing your heart like that! – Tom x
Allison says
Welcome Gryphon to a wonderful family! You’ve had quite the adventures already for a small kitten. I look forward to hearing more updates.
A couple parts of your story are similar to ours. In 2015, we fostered a kitten with no plans to keep her. My husband fell in love and wanted to keep her. When she made friends with our other cats, I agreed to yet another foster fail. We adopted Rainy and she immediately became a snuggler. She is one to this day!
Random Felines says
Welcome to the family kid!
databbiesotrouttowne says
dood…uz catz iz with dad, we new frum de furst thiz waz gonna bee yur for everz…we iz BUZZED
happee for ewe N we can now oh fish a lee say happee gotcha day N heerz two 90 mor !!! 🙂 ♥♥
Kathleen says
Well it took you long enough! Congratulations!
Cathy Keisha says
What a cutie!
The Island Cats says
Somehow we knew this is how it would turn out. Congratulations, Gryphon! You have found a wonderful home!
(And the mom wants to know where you found the guitar scratcher.)
Brian Frum says
It’s easy to see why you fell in love with that little guy, Gryphon is totally adorable and is so lucky to have had you find him!
Mary McNeil says
Purrs to your new boy !
Ellen Pilch says
Congratulations! I was hoping he would join your family. He is a lucky boy. XO
Catatopia says
Gryphon sounds like the perfect addition to the family! Congratulations!
Meezer'sMews&TerrieristicalWoofs says
Welcome!!
You are ‘of-fur-cial’ now!
You are going to have the time of your life…but we see that you are doing exactly that already! You are in the bestest of furmiles, Gryphon, that you are!
We made you a welcome card….we will send it per email:)
Pam and Teddy says
Gryphon is absolutely adorable and OH SO LUCKY to become a member of your fabulous and active family. Looks like he moved right in and stole EVERYONE’s hearts – human and kitties alike. It’s fun to watch a kitten grow up and find his place in the fold. Many years of fun ahead!
Hugs, Pam and Teddy too
Timmy Tomcat says
He is such a cutie and we think that was a wonderful decision. He sure is making his way into everyones hearts and fits in perfectly. We wish you the best of lives Gryphon!
Lola The Rescued Cat says
Concatulations, Gryphon! You adopted the purrfect humans, that’s for sure!
BellaDharma'ss LadyMew says
Concatulations to all of you!! Gryphon you sure landed on yore pawss!! A bettur home cuud not bee found!! Yore a hansum wee kitt an it will bee fun to see you grow up!!!!
Well come to Bloggie Werld too.
***purrsss*** BellaDharma an {{huggiesss}} LadyMew