A little under a year ago, I adopted a tuxedo kitty, who has since grown up to be this charming cat. Her name is Zoey.
The only problem is that, as I get busier in my new life here in Hawaii and am not at home as often as I used to be, Zoey is bored.
Zoey is very, very bored. And I am not allowed to forget it. Zoey reminds me regularly that she is bored by pouncing on my legs. This is okay when I’m in shorts or a skirt, because she understands that claws on bare flesh are a bad thing, and keeps her claws retracted. But I am often wearing blue jeans, and Zoey does not understand that claws HURT, even through denim. I have the scratches to prove it.
Obviously there is only one solution. Zoey needs company. So off to the Humane Society I went. I thought it would be hilarious to get another tuxedo cat, preferably a kitten, but there were no tuxedo kitties.
And then I saw a two-year-old male with markings extremely similar to Zoey’s. On closer inspection, I saw his eyes were horribly clouded, almost certainly due to Little Fire Ants, which are blinding cats and dogs on our island.
That broke my heart. What chance does a blind full-grown cat have of being adopted? Probably not good. Until sucker CairoCarol arrives, of course.
So Phineas Fire Eyes, who shall be called Finn, or Finny, or Finn-finn as the mood strikes me, has just joined my household. Right now Finny is living large on the lanai, where he will stay until he and Zoey seem ready to engage. So far, Zoey isn’t too upset but she has spent some time giving him the stink-eye through the sliding door.
So that’s the real story of Finn’s arrival. But I’m going to tell people I wanted to replicate my cat Zoey, only my replicator from Star Trek malfunctioned a little, and instead of another Zoey I got a cat that almost looks like Zoey but has short hair and testicles.
In aggregate I shall refer to them as the copycats, or the replicants, (replicats?), or the tuxetwins.
ETA - He’s not totally blind. He doesn’t see things close up, but things that are a little distant (three feet away or so) he seems to see okay. His eyes follow me when I’m walking around, but if I wave my fingers or a string in front of his face, he doesn’t react at all.
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