* Picasso found his forever home with lovely people! *

Picasso arrived at Hamilton Animal Control, suffering from a severe upper respiratory virus. Poor guy was so sick! HAC staff started him on medication, and they had to force feed him for a few days because he wasn’t eating. Thankfully, he pulled through the worst of his illness and started to feel better. We were happy to spring Picasso from the shelter when a foster home opened up.
Picasso is a very sweet and active kitty. Despite not feeling the greatest, he still had a happy hello and a loud purr for everyone he met. At his vet visit after his rescue, he was put on another medication for the lingering upper respiratory virus, and it was noted that he had some fur missing from his tail where there had been a previous injury. After he was over the upper respiratory virus, he had surgery to have the end of his tail be amputated as our vets advised that it may cause issues later in his life.

Picasso is is doing wonderfully at his foster home and he’s now ready to find his forever home.
Here’s a note from Picasso’s foster home:

“Oh…… Picasso! That’s my name don’t wear it out!
Now that the little prince has recovered from his upper respiratory, tip of tail amputation (where he had sustained a de-gloving injury) and had his stitches removed, only one actually because he chewed out the others on his own (Oh, Picasso!) he is ready to finally go home and I as his foster parent I say good riddance ;o)
First off, I want to give huge praise and a big ole thank you to an amazing photographer Apryl, Willow Bean Photography for (actually) managing to capture some great shots of Picasso and make him look like a feline rather than the batty bat bat and total goofball he normally looks like. This was quite a feat unto itself considering he dashed under the couch immediately upon her arrival (Oh Picasso!) and wouldn’t be coaxed out with any amount of sweet talking, feathery wand toys, or treats. Eventually he had to be dragged (gently of course) out of his hidey spot and flung over the fosterer’s shoulder where he wriggled and squirmed his ultimate way to freedom (Oh Picasso!). So thank you Apryl for not only your patience but skill getting pictures of him that show his lovely green eyes which one rarely gets a glimpse of because he has huge pupils that dominate and so he always looks like a black cat with completely black eyes which can be off putting for some and doesn’t help with chances of adoption.
To be honest, if you strapped on a pair of wings he’d resemble more of a big black bat than cat really and his tendency to position his teeth in such a way as to show his bottom overbite (Oh Picasso) adds to the battiness. He doesn’t actually have an overbite, he just does this thing, much like the fact that he seems to enjoy sticking his tongue out of his mouth, just a sliver, enough that you catch a fleeting pinkness out of the corner of your eye. Truth be told, he looks like a bat and acts like a dog….Oh Picasso!
Next up, you need to know that Picasso is a big ole total and complete goofball. This is very much a Picasso moment….we arrive home from the vet after getting his stitch removed and given the thumbs up to find his new home and we get in the door, he gets lets out of his carrier and within seconds, and I mean seconds cause the apartment door isn’t even closed yet, her manages to get his tail stuck in the door, the kind that closes on its’ own but luckily the full force of the door wasn’t on his tail (cause the foster mom (me) grabbed it from shutting all the way) or he would have been going back to the vet with another de-gloving injury, like the one that was the reason for the tip of his tail being removed in the first place….Oh Picasso!
So since he acts like a goof and looks like a goof, it’s decided that he is a goof, but such a clumsy loveable goof, an amazing companion, a wonderful all round ‘dog cat’ who loves to follow people to the washroom, snuggle beside humans on the couch and recently began sneaking under the covers at nap time, no, not bed time, nap time, why? go figure, your guess is as good as mine.
If you’re still reading, here are a few more tidbits to know about me, Picasso in order for a great match between us:
– I use the litter box fine BUT don’t always cover my poop…not sure why, it’s just something I do – maybe it’s like leaving you a little present…unwrapped

– I’m a lover and a fighter. I’m not in any way aggressive BUT I am a rough and tumble kitty that hasn’t quite learned (yet) that hands are for loving not biting and chewing (on). I don’t attack them out of violence, it’s just that I’m a super strong kitty and I tend to get excited playing and sometimes get carried away and will attack my humans and feet and shins and calf and bum, depending where I am situated. I’m learning to only be ‘rough’ with my toys and other resident foster cat but I still mess up a bit and can take the play too far

– Speaking of rough play and attacking the resident cats, one cat Nemo has absolutely no interest in being ‘sneak attacked and pounced on’ but Grizzy, even though he is an old man of 14, he wrestles with me and I LOVE it….so, it would be great to have another cat in the house that we could romp and play together and this would cut down on me mistakenly chomping on your digits

– Speaking of chomping :o)….I love to lick my humans….lick, lick. Lick, lick, and then sometimes chomp….again, I’m not doing this aggressively but rather that I love my humans and to me licking shows love and chomping is just taking it to the next level. My foster mom is working with me and when I do give a little nibble, she tells me no and removes her finger from my mouth vicinity and takes it away. No hitting, no yelling, no getting mad. She knows that I mean well, it’s just that I’m still really just a teenager and I was on my own on the streets and didn’t know any better about the etiquette of being a house cat BUT I’m learning but I do forget sometimes when I get over stimulated

– I do like to hide under the couch or a bed and give a little ghost swipe to your legs as you pass by…come on, this is cute

– For my softer side…I really do love being loved on. When I haven’t seen my foster mom for a while (to me a couple of hours), when she arrives home there’s nothing more I love than to curl up beside her (on the comforter on the couch) and get some much needed pats and scritches. She starts by giving petting me from the top of my head to the tip of my tail, some soft spankies on my bottom, and then focuses on the top of my and then under the chin scratches, where I close my eyes in bliss and lift my chin to the heavens and I’m happy as a clam..and I purr and purr and purr.

– Until just recently, I wasn’t at all interested in wet cat food. When I arrived my foster human tried plying me with expensive wet cat food, canned tuna and salmon, chicken, cheese, real salmon and nothing….I would only eat Whiska kibble but now I’m branching out and my palate is starting to mature and I will often eat some wet food but I’m still on the kibble and Whiska’s cause, let’s face it, the commercials on tv don’t lie…for some reason it’s like crack for cats

– I’m not the most graceful cat and sometimes my foster human does wonder if I got the memo that I’m a feline :o) I don’t jump up a lot so for right now your counters, eating table, shelves, and top of fridge are safe from me because I’m not such a great leaper. My foster human asked the vet during my check up if there was anything wrong with my limbs but upon inspection, I don’t have any issues that are causing me pain (hence the not leaping) so perhaps it’s like the human says ‘I’m more of a dog cat’. I can jump, I just am clumsy at doing it. For instance, I tend to jump up and miss and slide down and try again. For instance, my foster mom has plastic stairs beside her bed for her older cat Grizzy (the one who I try and knock the stuffing out of every night around 9pm) but I’m the one who started using them and actually I think I taught Grizzy how they work. I could jump on her bed and sometimes do but why jump and fail when you can simply walk up the stairs to the bed?

So in summary I’m going to be happiest in the following environment:
– Adult household – not elderly or mobility impaired that could end up having a fall as I’m often in and around your feet before you know it and I’d feel terrible if you fell because of me

– No children household because I am a rough and tumble feline and wouldn’t want to inadvertently hurt a young person

– Someone that has patience with my lick, lick, lick, lick, chomping and will redirect me to a toy instead

– A household with another cat close to my age so we can play and dissipate some of my extra energy, plus so I don’t get lonely (which I would if I had no one to play with)

– While I’m not specifically a lap cat (I could very well grow into one) or enjoy being picked up for long periods of time, I AM a cat who digs snuggling right up close to you on the couch or in bed and getting and giving love

In closing, I can guarantee you that I’m such a wonderful companion who is fun loving, sweet in nature, and will adore you and you’ll see it in my eyes every day…Oh Picasso!”

Please adopt Picasso!