Shadow

This is Shadow. He came to live with us yesterday. He is one year old and neutered. He is black with four small white spots on his feet, a white neck and white dot on his mouth. He is going to be hard to see at night on the road, unfortunately, but he needed a home and I couldn't say no. Abby is almost invisible day or night. She's the same colour as the road! It will be awhile before she is old enough and confident enough to venture that far. I hope so anyway!

After my preivous post about Chisel I received a few emails with offers of cats. I took Shadow. I turned down a couple of others. Shadow is sweet and affectionate and already neutered, which we like. All of our cats are neutered when we get them. I did get an offer of a free one year old, neutered male pure breed rag doll cat but turned it down. They are called rag dolls because of their personality. They are so relaxed and laid back that you can do anything to them and they don't care. They are so easy going that I didn't think he would be a good mouser. If a cat is not a good mouser out here, we can't use him, unfortunately. Also, I think three cats is just about all we need. If you are interested in taking him, let me know and I will email the owner for you.

Pixel is just a bit bigger and heavier than Shadow, but not by much. They are both only one year old and young enough to be very adaptable. They are chasing each other around and around now (at 3 am!) and Shadow has been doing some meowing during the night too, which is why I am up now. Pixel is doing most of the chasing. Its a dominance thing, I think. They will go through some adjustment between them before they work out their status here. There are no claws or teeth involved, just chasing and climbing on. I think Pixel has been here long enough now to claim "First Cat" and is a bit jealous of the attention paid to Shadow. They will work it out between them, eventually.

Abby is staying out of it, surprisingly. She has completely ignored Shadow since he came, almost like he wasn't even there. Funny, that! She has harrassed every other cat here. Maybe she has just given up! lol! More likely she is just waiting her turn.

Shadow spent yesterday under the couch, where all cats spend their first day here. I don't know what it is about that couch but they do seem to like to hide there. When Shadow arrived I took him up to the spare / craft / seedling / cat room, pictured here (I didn't show you the messy shelf/storage side) and showed him the litter boxes, food and water. He has been using the litter box so I can relax a bit now, knowing that he knows where everything is. That's Shadow sitting in the window. All you can see is his tail hanging down.


When they have both been here at least a month and know that this is home, I will open the cat door and they can go outside to run, play and hunt. They will also have to cope with two huge puppies trying to play with them. Both Pixel and Shadow come from homes with big dogs, so they know how to handle them. These guys are just puppies anyway. They don't have their big teeth and can't even eat hard treats yet. There's no harm in either of them. They are just gangly, playful, happy puppies. (Its their size that is scary! When the three of us sit on the step, we are the same height! )

With the addition of Shadow, I think we have all the cats we need. I hope I don't get contacted with another sad story about a cat that desperately needs a home. I am a sucker for hard luck cases! We can't afford to be a cat sanctuary.