Next month it will be a year since my dear old orange boy left us and now that my ankle is in the mostly better category, I decided the time had come to restore the feline balance of the household and add a number two cat. I debated a kitten but small kittens are work, so decided I’d got with another young cat, as long as he/she was younger than the torti. I had my eye on a wee tuxedo man but when I enquired his foster parents decided they couldn’t part with him (so yay for that, happy kitty ending).  So yesterday I went to the shelter to meet some of the other cats.  They had mostly girls (I think girls get dumped more because they get pregnant…slitty eyes at not desexed pets), and eventually this teeny girl and I came to a mutual agreement that she should come live with me.

We are still considering names as her shelter name was not an option. I think I have almost settled on something but she can be the fuzzy girl on the internet.  Like the torti, she was pregnant when she came to the shelter and has probably been a stray for a lot of her life (she’s about 18 months old). Apparently she was quite fierce when she first came in but now she’s gentle. Still a little wary of humans, she likes being cuddled when I do pick her up and will smooch my legs but skirts around me a lot of the time.  But she just needs a little TLC.  She didn’t have as long in the shelter as the torti did as she lost her kittens plus she’s a bit older, so she is still learning about nice hoomans. So far, I think I’m deemed acceptable. Though apparently I make stuff make odd noises (washing machines, fans, electric toothbrushes, showers) which earns me quizzical looks from big green eyes.

The torti is coping fairly well. There is a bit of hissing and paw waving but nothing serious. The rest of the time there is staring contests and mutual ignoring. Sleeping separately and the fuzzy girl gets time outs in the bathroom so the torti can relax. Her quirk so far is that instead of choosing either the comfy cat bed or the nice hideaway box with towel to sleep in in the bathroom, so far every time I go in she is up sitting on my big metal beauty case on the benchtop. So there’s a towel up there too now.  Maybe she wants a makeover…though she’s so pretty, she doesn’t need one.

They have a mutual love of toys, especially the feather wand, so we’re doing quality feather wand playing together time and I think the play thing will win the torti over. The fuzzy girl was pretty similar to the torti in the shelter playing wise, vs some of the other girls who were very very timid (torti pouncing on the head might have been too much for them).  And the torti kind of wants to like her. And the fuzzy girl wants to be friends and is doing the good young cat back off thing. She’s smaller than the torti (two teeny cats) and not sure she’ll get bigger, given her age, but hopefully she’ll gain a little bit of weight. So onwards to kitty harmony. She’s sitting on the couch today instead of under it, so that’s a good sign. Monday, I’ll re-open the cat palace door so she can investigate that as well.