We just adopted her a couple of weeks ago from the local shelter. She’s about 7 months old, and she had been in the shelter for 5 months - a very long time. And it make sense: she’s one funny-looking creature, with a face from a Picasso painting and a moustache from Dali.
She’s also the sweetest, most adorable, happiest, most sociable kitten I’ve ever met. It turns out that 5 months in a good shelter can create a highly socialized cat. She loves spending time with people, and she’s made it her life goal to make friends with our older cat Sophie, who’s a stuck-up little princess and isn’t quite sure why this little ball of energy is constantly dancing around her. It’s wonderful.
Yeah. My primary cat, Big Fat Tony, passed away early last month at 12 after a very rough and heartbreaking summer. Tony, who I loved with all my heart, was a total asshole to anyone who wasn’t me, and made Sophie’s life miserable. So Sophie (who’ll be 2 years old soon) understandably has trouble accepting other cats. Inara’s wearing her down, though.
A moment’s grace for your departed and a moment of love for the newcomer, who I find quite charming. And they’re conforming to my understanding of cat-physics:
I hadn’t mentioned his death before now. Too painful.
I posted a couple of pictures of Tony in this thread, way back when, but here’s one last one of him from better times, at his fighting weight of sixteen and a half pounds:
I love torties so much. She is beautiful. And I’ve found that the cats who’ve had a tough go of it will try very hard to win over the residents when they finally feel safe. I’m betting she charms Sophie very soon.
If it was a good shelter, she may not remember any really tough times; she may have been too young to remember anything before the shelter.
She probably has never lived without other cats, and thinks of a mostly-friendly feline clowder as normal. So she’ll really want the only other cat in her new life to become a friend. And she may, in five months at the shelter, have gotten practice at making friends with new arrivals.
And Tony was beautiful. And I bet when he glared at you, you knew you were being glared at!
And on the subject of Otto: when we got him four months ago, my daughter was convinced that he’s part Maine Coon. I’ve never actually met a Maine Coon, but I’m wondering if she’s right. For one thing, like I said before: He’s a big boy. And, he’s got these tufts behind his ears - I’m not sure if this pic does them justice. Is that a Maine Coon trait? Or maybe it’s just part of his winter coat coming in?
ETA: And then, of course, there’s the big, magnificent bushy tail!
One more: Irving and Ophelia taking advantage of the last gasps of the Pacific Northwest sun, before it slips behind the clouds for the next nine months.
I suppose this is as good a place as any to ask this: assuming imgbb is going to trash my pictures again, I asked Claude for recommendations on image hosting sites. He suggested Catbox, with the caveat that Australia is blocked, just like Imgur has blocked the UK. Has anyone used Catbox, and is that true about Australia?
