To begin with, you have to spend weeks, if not months, looking up and researching the best place to adopt your new cat from. You don't want to get it from a store, you're going to want to rescue it from a shelter or otherwise. It may take a while, but choosing the right place is important. #adoptdon'tshop
Even if you're not supposed to bring home any of them yet, you can't help but scrolling through the adoptable animals and read their profiles to see if any match with what you need or were hoping for. You jot down the id's of the ones that might be contenders and keep scrolling basically until someone tells you to stop.
At one point or another one is bound to jump out at you, practically begging to be taken home. You have to have that one. Why in the world did you start looking so early? Finding the contact information for the organization or shelter you send them a quick email letting them know about your interest to adopt.
When they get back to you, you are asked to fill out an adoption application, including personal references. After asking someone if it's alright to use them as a reference, you double and triple check everything before submitting the application.
A couple of days later you finally hear back and have been approved to adopt the kitty of your dreams! It takes a little bit of emailing back and forth to work out the details with the organization and letting them know exactly which cat you had your eye on. With no guarantee, he or she will be there later you quickly decide you're willing to adopt now, even if you hadn't planned on it originally.
Shortly after that you set up a "meet and greet", or a day to go meet the cat you are wanting to adopt. It can be a little nerve wrecking at first, but it doesn't stay that way for long.
Knowing you'll be bringing home a new four-legged friend soon, it becomes time to go shopping for them. You run around to several different stores, ordering things online, and even picking up things you didn't know you needed along the way to complete your shopping list. At home, you set everything up so that's one less thing to do when you bring your pet back for the first time.
Walking in on the day you arranged for the meet and greet, you speak with the person there and you go back to where the cat is being kept. Usually, they'll give you and the kitty some space to greet each other. If everything goes well, it's a very high possibility you will be taking home a pet that day. Filling out paperwork and answering some more questions is the last step you need to go through.
Finally, it's time to take your family member home after many weeks of organizing and planning. It's going to take them some time to adjust and they may be skittish at first, but it's all worth it in the end. Soon enough they'll be wanting to snuggle with you whenever you come home and that is one amazing feeling.
