Shadow

[kimberlysteele]

This little guy came into my life about ten days ago. His name is Shadow, or more specifically Shadow Shadilay Sniffles Spazzimodo Steele. He is a formerly feral cat from my backyard.  We feed and water a small colony of ferals outside my house every day.  My husband built a rather elaborate heated shelter for them to get through our Illinois winters.  

As you guys know, I recently had to have my beloved kitty Kiki of fifteen years put down because she had kidney and liver failure. I am still devastated and in mourning, and that's why I wasn't ready for this little dude.

I had taken a day off for my birthday and poor little Shadow was sniffling and sneezing worse than ever. He was part of a feral litter of three born to one of the kitties I have yet to Trap/Spay/Return, a girl we've named Ms. Piggy but who is known also as Blondie. Ms. Piggy had a litter of three boys this spring, one of whom was killed by the tom who sired him and left as a corpse on my porch. I named him Tiger and buried him beneath some tiger lilies in my center garden. Shadow and his brother Silhouette were the two survivors. They are both black cats.



Several of the feral cats allow me to touch/handle them. Shadow is one of them. At 2.3 pounds, he couldn't put up much of a fight when I grabbed him and put him into a cat carrier a week and a half ago. So I did and took him to the vet. Shadow was immediately sweet and friendly -- purring as he was held in my arms. He has not acted feral since Day One.

The vet prescribed a ten day course of antibiotics, a de-wormer, and eye drops. My generous friend Jackie, a fellow cat lover and rescuer, paid for his veterinary expenses and gave me some litter, a litter box, and food.  I have never seen a cat take so quickly or enthusiastically to using a litter box.  



Within a couple of days, he found his favorite thing: TOYS. Kiki had a big box of them, and she had gradually lost interest in 90 percent of them over the years. Shadow went absolutely crazy over the wand toys, the cat tube, the catnip fish, etc.

Shadow is a much more high energy cat than Kiki, even when she was a kitten.  He's a handful.  He jumped into the refrigerator on his fourth or fifth night with us and spent 7 hours in the cold!  He pooped all over the shelf and the few things that were in there (we had to throw out some stuff) but was otherwise unscathed.  Moral of the story: ALWAYS CHECK THE FRIDGE WHEN YOU HAVE A KITTEN.  He is like the cat version of Indiana Jones with ADHD.  That said, Kiki did take down her fair share of window blinds as a baby...

Another difference between Shadow and Kiki is their size.  Kiki was a big cat, 21 pounds at times.  She was more like a small panther.  Shadow is the runt of the litter.  It remains to be seen whether or not he will grow to be a normal sized cat.



I'm doing my best to make him feel welcome and happy.



He recently went to the vet again for routine vaccinations.  He has gained weight: he's now 3.5 pounds.  He is much healthier; the vet says he is doing well with no respiratory or other issues.  I'll always miss Kiki -- there isn't a day that goes by when I don't miss her terribly.  Nevertheless, I'm going to try to do my best by this little guy from my yard and give him all the love and care he deserves.  I think Kiki would have wanted it that way.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

He seems very like our Tru!

Not only fridge, but freezers, cupboards (until she figured out how to open them to both get in and out) closets, the space between glass and screen doors, washer, dryer, dishwasher, oven, and everything vaguely reminiscent of a den on the place. It had never occured to me as a first time cat person that someone to hold the cat would be required to just cook dinner!

May your little scrap of Shadow continue to thrive and may he bring happy chaos to your home.

BoysMom

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you!

He is very into human food even though we are vegan. He tries to drink my tea, checks out rice, cucumbers, etc. If it is food, he wants it... that's why he jumped in the fridge. I have been locking him in my office (his litter box and food are in there) when I go out to feed the other cats.

[(Anonymous)]

What a sweetheart! He seems lovely. And very cute as well.

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you.

[lp9]

Welcome to Shadow! I'm so happy you have a new little buddy in your house--seems like it was meant to be, even if you weren't quite prepared to welcome a new cat.

[kimberlysteele]

My husband thinks Kiki "sent" him to me. He's a sweet boy.

[(Anonymous)]

I was thinking the same thing: it seems like too much of a coincidence.

[kimberlysteele]

He's definitely given me some comic relief from grieving her. His antics are hilarious!

[hearthspirit]

Aww. Where is the other brother?

We adopted black cat brothers last fall. One is ridiculously tame (as in, he let's the kids pick him up and port him around under his arm) and the other is still so feral we couldn't recapture him to get him neutered. He almost took out my husband's eye when he gets to grab him, and since he never sprays or scratches furniture, we are willing to call it a draw (the other one marked everything before we could get him in to the vet!). He is slowly becoming friendlier, he will let you pet him with no sudden moves if he's on furniture at least as high as your waist; the kids could touch him first, then me, and now he's refriended my husband.

[kimberlysteele]

Weird, we are on the same wavelength. Today I caught Ms. Piggy, Shadow's mom. She's feral. I handed her over to our local TNR person who will get her spayed. I caught her using a Tomahawk drop trap -- she was wise to every other type of trap. I am considering taking her into the house once she is fixed, as she has been friendly to me and lets me come within 24 inches or so and talks to me in meows and meow-hisses. Plus, if I bring her inside, she can be with Shadow and Silhouette (Shadow's brother). However, my ferals have a pretty sweet deal outside and Piggy is the colony matriarch. So I'm divided on what to do.

[(Anonymous)]

hmmm. Maybe when she's fixed a new matriarch will take over, and Piggy might choose to come inside?

[kimberlysteele]

I'd like that! She was very calm during the entire capture. I'm very fond of her. Over the last year, she has become attached to me, letting me within a couple of feet of her when before no human could come within 20 feet without her bolting. She's six years old but looks older because her body has been through so much with constant litters of kittens 2x a year. It's up in the air -- if she wants to stay outside, I'd be fine with that as well. She does have a heated, metal-roofed cat shelter out there, fresh water that is heated in winter so it does not freeze, and food 2x minimum per day, so it's not a bad deal for a feral cat.

[kimberlysteele]

Update: the TNR person brought a fully spayed and vaccinated Ms. Piggy back to my house today. She was miserable inside, so I opened a window and she jumped out. We spotted her in the yard a few hours later, so please pray that she stays around our yard and reassumes her position of colony matriarch.

so happy for you!!!

[randomactsofkarmasc]

Shadow looks like a sweetheart. So happy for you. :-)

Re: so happy for you!!!

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you! He's a handful because he's still a baby but overall he's a good cat.

Happy

[(Anonymous)]

I’m tearing up with happiness for you and Mr Shadow.


May he give you as much joy as you want!

Annette

Re: Happy

[kimberlysteele]

Awww, thank you! He's darling. I'm glad he came after Kiki because I'm not as inclined to spoil him. He needs more guidance and limits than she did.

[(Anonymous)]

The feral cats you take care of are so lucky to have you! Shadow is a real cutie.

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you!

[jpc_w]

I'm happy these kittens have uplifted your spirit.

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you, they have!

[cutekitten]

A litter box! Movin’ on up! And TOYS! Lots of toys! He’d be pinching himself if he had fingers.

Kiki is purring in Saint Francis’s lap. Now she has someone to keep an eye on you.

[kimberlysteele]

Awww! LOL he just chewed through my phone cord... He is a handful! I love your comment about Kiki.

[cutekitten]

Yipe! Did he get shocked?

Pet shops used to carry awful-tasting but harmless stuff that owners of kittens and puppies could apply to—well, everything. If it’s still made, do you have any?

[(Anonymous)]

That is such a lovely image.

[methylethyl]

Aww, what a cutie! We had just been talking about how we missed having a cat (both husband and I had them growing up), and it was a bummer that we can't really do that as renters. But it turns out our neighbor at the new place has a very friendly tabby who comes over to say "hi" when we get home, so we will get some kitty love after all :)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm glad you've found a new cat friend!

Strangely enough my late cat developed a fascination with the fridge late in life, and even after deliberately locking her in there for a minute or two to "scare her straight" she continued to want to go in the fridge.

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you!

Yeah, what is up with their fascination with refrigerators? Kiki wanted to be in the fridge as a kitten. One day my husband and I watched as she jumped in there and spread-eagled between the lettuce and the tofu and refused to be moved. Both of us still remember that like it was yesterday.

[open_space]

speaking of cats and refrigerators I saw this yesterday:

[kimberlysteele]

This is hilarious!!

[cutekitten]

I have a cute picture of a litter of puppies excitedly crowding each other to get a good look into the fridge.

[kimberlysteele]

Just when I thought dogs were immune...

[cutekitten]

Did you also take in his brother? It sounds like Mom wilk probably never come in.

[kimberlysteele]

I had her spayed a couple of days ago by the local TNR person. Brought her home today and she was inside for a little while, but she was miserable so I let her out. Please pray that she sticks around and reassumes her role as leader of the colony.

[cutekitten]

I sure will! How is Shadow doing? How about the other kitten?

[kimberlysteele]

Just saw Miss Piggy today! She doesn't care that I took her into the house -- seems like no hard feelings because she was there for the morning feeding, hiss-meowing at me as always. Little Silhouette (her kitten, Shadow's littermate) was there as well. The colony seems to be back already, now that the Queen has been restored.