In June of 2016, I made my first adult decision. One that had a lot of responsibilities linked to it. Something that needed a lot of time,effort, and compassion. He needed me but I think I needed him more.
My boyfriend's landlord has a bunch of stray cats and what does a bunch of stray cats lead to? A bunch of pregnant stray cats, then that leads to more cats out in the world. She can't give them away on facebook because everyone is very harsh to her because she doesn't do anything to fix that she has a bunch of stray cats and she can't just leave them down at her house. She tries to find good homes for these kittens but sometimes it a lot harder than we think. Some kittens we don't know about for weeks on end and they become wild kittens like their mothers and some stay tame if we get them soon enough.
My boyfriend's sister was informed that she had kittens and that she wanted her to go down to her house to interact with them so they stay tamed so she can eventually  give them to a good home. She then told me that their landlord had kittens and me being an animal lover I jumped up with joy and wanted to go see them. We then walked down there and saw 3 beautiful kittens, 2 all black (might of been twins) and one orange (he was a big boy)! Their mother was a beautiful black and orange calico. At first, she wasn't sure of us touching her babies but kinda just sat back and watched us play with them. They all looked really healthy just the runt was really skinny so we were afraid that something was gonna happen to it. We tried feeding it as much as we could.
A few weeks later I talked to the owner and asked if I could take one for myself then talked to my boyfriend's mom. My mom didn't want a cat at our house so then  I knew that I probably wasn't gonna be able to have the cat but then my boyfriend's mom was sweet enough to let him stay there for 3 months. After both the owner and my boyfriend's mom said yes I made the decision of taking him. They were still pretty little maybe 5-6 weeks and still needed their mother even though she wasn't feeding them and they were eating wet food I still wanted to play it safe. I would go down there days at a time to go check on my little baby and take it for awhile just so it could get used to me.
 I finally got to bring her home and I finally picked a name for her, Ava Marie Self. I loved it so much! I bought her cute little collars that she wouldn't fit in yet. I posted about her and everything. I would call her Ava and tell everyone her name was Ava but then one day someone told me that they thought she was a he. I was so sad I wanted it to be a girl. So after that, I tried to figure out a boy named I liked to just keep in mind tell we could really tell if it was a boy or girl. I had about 3 names I liked but then my boyfriend and I agreed on one finally. We both like Maverick for his first name and then I thought Luciano (my boyfriend's middle name) went well with it and then, of course, Self as the last name.
August 10th I was gonna take him to a shelter that helps lower the cost and drives the animals to the vet to get vaccines and spay/neuters the animals for cheaper. He was a male so I know males spray to mark their territory and I was moving into a new house and didn't want him doing that at my house so I was taking action beforehand. That day I took him in at 6:30 A.M and then I got ready for my interview up in Beaverton then went to Beaverton with my boyfriend. They told we can pick him back up at 7P.M so we went on our way.
Well on our way back I missed a call from an unknown number, they left me a voicemail and I listened to it once I parked. It was the vet calling me to tell me that my baby had a heart murmur. I was so scared and sad at the same time. I felt so helpless and just wanted to pick my baby up and cuddle him.
They wanted to know if I still wanted to go on with the surgery or just to leave and check back on it in a month to see if it got any better. I then called my boyfriend's mom to see what I should do. She told me that it could go away a little later and that if I wanted to wait that would be totally ok. So I called the vet back and said no sorry I would like to wait and come back next month. That night I went and picked him up it was so quite in the room and as soon as he heard me talking he started whining for me.
3 weeks after that I took him back at no charge and I was still super scared he was gonna have it again but I kept trying to think positive. A few hours later I got that call again and I knew what it was, he still had the heart murmur but I knew my cat was a strong boy and that he could handle it! He did just that and more. That same day he was up running around and playing.
I'm a little over 5 months having this little bundle of joy and I wouldn't change him for a thing! He is beautiful in every color he changes into and all the crazy, funny things he does. He's a huge part of my life and a little piece of home to snuggle every night. He makes sure I'm never alone and makes me happy when I'm sad.
A little update on him, he's a little over 5 and a half months old. He just lost about 3 teeth in the last week. He likes to sleep a lot when I'm not home and lays at the door until I walk in the door and greet him. He purrs like crazy when he hears me talk to him or if I pet him. He becomes a spazz once I'm home or when I wanna go to sleep. Again I wouldn't trade him for the world! I love being his mama.