After losing my last cat to tongue cancer, I decided to take a break from felines. I have to admit that the decrease in pet hair and the elimination of kitty litter were both welcome respites. I also decided that, when the time came, rather than look for a cat, I would wait for a cat to find me.
And that is what happened. A friend of a friend of my daughter had a cat that needed a home. And now he is in my home.
Still nameless, he matched almost all my criteria for a cat: male, neutered, short hair, adult. I was hoping for declawed, too, but while he has claws, he hasn't exercised them yet except for some reflexive kneading. He let me trim them (although that elicited some tail thrashing), so I'll let him keep them for now.
Kittens are cute, but adult cats usually have better manners. This big boy is no exception. He is calm, somewhat regal in his bearing, but loves attention. He showed no reaction to the dog (and once the initial butt-sniffing was over, Betsy lost interest as well), but you can tell by his window shopping, he would like nothing better than to decimate the local avian and rodent population.
But what to name him? I was thinking "Rufus" but that seems more appropriate for an orange cat; this one is buff, the color of butternut squash or garbanzo beans. "Butternut"? "Garbanzo" (which my son favors)? Those seem too cutesy for this fellow. My daughter suggested "Hawthorne" but it does not exactly roll off the tongue. Maybe "Hunter"? He looks just like my first cat, so I've been calling him "Pinky".
He answers to it, but I don't think he likes it. Any suggestions?
He looks like a Buckley to me. Especially in the last photo. Congratulations on your adoption!
ReplyDeleteHe looks like a Baxter to me, but then a lot of cats look like Baxter to me.
ReplyDeleteNone of my business, but to weigh in on the declawing, I'd recommend against it. It's actually amputation of the toe, not just removal of the claw, and it can be painful and usually leads to behavioral problems. The cat feels like it can't defend itself, so it gets more aggressive in terms of biting and marking territory. I would think this would be more pronounced in an adult cat who's used to having claws. For what it's worth, I used to trim my cat's nails, but she hated it so much that I stopped. Then I discovered that they shed the outer layer of claw periodically, and it helps if they have a good rough scratching post to hurry that along, so unless the cat's claws grow abnormally fast, trimming isn't necessary.
Congratulations on being adopted! He looks like an exceptional boy.
Congrats on the new addition to the family, he's gorgeous. He looks like a Dexter to me, strawberry blond, that looks calm and collected and yet... ;-)
ReplyDeleteAwww....he's so sweet!
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