Introducing...
Mifune!
She's a teeny-weeny tortoiseshell kitty that our upstairs neighbor, cat rescuer extraordinaire Marygrace, saved from the alley. She's a mere four and a half pounds, so we thought she might be about four months old or so, but the vet said that judging from her teeth, she's more like seven or eight months old. Which means we're taking her in to be spayed next weekend.
Right now, though, we're doing our best to socialize her. This is our third night with her, and she's coming around (although she won't come out of the back bathroom, where we've assembled a veritable kitty palace: litter pan, food, toys, carrier for a hidey-hole, scratching post, her blanky), but the first night she was simply terrified.
She hid in her blanket and looked out upon her strange new world with those saucer eyes of hers... we didn't even know at that point whether she was male or female (we now know that almost all torties are female), but we had decided a while ago that we'd name our next kitty "Mifune" for Toshiro Mifune, one my crushes, even though he is long dead. Since "Mifune" is a surname, it works for our little gal, even though she is about as far from a samurai at this point as you can get!
We really had not planned to adopt another kitty for a while. We're still mourning Shelly, and I was looking forward to having tinsel on the Christmas tree this year... but who could refuse such a little sweetheart? I mean, look at those eyes!
When Shelly died, my old grad school flatmate and erstwhile bandmate Gael posted "She's gone back to her home planet to 'report in' on her anthropological observations, I'm certain. But they'll send another soon -- they always do!" And look! They did!
I think she's still a little shaken up from the journey, though!
Now that you've met our latest addition, I promise I'll have fall foliage pics next post!
She's a teeny-weeny tortoiseshell kitty that our upstairs neighbor, cat rescuer extraordinaire Marygrace, saved from the alley. She's a mere four and a half pounds, so we thought she might be about four months old or so, but the vet said that judging from her teeth, she's more like seven or eight months old. Which means we're taking her in to be spayed next weekend.
Right now, though, we're doing our best to socialize her. This is our third night with her, and she's coming around (although she won't come out of the back bathroom, where we've assembled a veritable kitty palace: litter pan, food, toys, carrier for a hidey-hole, scratching post, her blanky), but the first night she was simply terrified.
She hid in her blanket and looked out upon her strange new world with those saucer eyes of hers... we didn't even know at that point whether she was male or female (we now know that almost all torties are female), but we had decided a while ago that we'd name our next kitty "Mifune" for Toshiro Mifune, one my crushes, even though he is long dead. Since "Mifune" is a surname, it works for our little gal, even though she is about as far from a samurai at this point as you can get!
We really had not planned to adopt another kitty for a while. We're still mourning Shelly, and I was looking forward to having tinsel on the Christmas tree this year... but who could refuse such a little sweetheart? I mean, look at those eyes!
When Shelly died, my old grad school flatmate and erstwhile bandmate Gael posted "She's gone back to her home planet to 'report in' on her anthropological observations, I'm certain. But they'll send another soon -- they always do!" And look! They did!
I think she's still a little shaken up from the journey, though!
Now that you've met our latest addition, I promise I'll have fall foliage pics next post!
Labels: feline spies from outerspace, Mifune, Shelly
posted by Cathy VanPatten at 6:58 PM
7 Comments:
Awwwwww! Awwwwww! She's a beautiful kitty, though those have to be the saddest eyes I've ever seen. Rest assured if she's like any kitty I've ever known she'll own your place in less than a week and all you'll be allowed to do is pay the bills and make with the food and the scratching and the brushing and the poopie-scooping.
"But they'll send another soon -- they always do!"
Yeah, I can vouch for that!
*glares at a certain kitty swatting at my feet*
Congratulations on your new family member! I am so happy for you!
She does have very sad-looking eyes. But I wonder if that is just her general worry and fear coming through. She's not completely feral--if she were, there'd be no way we're making the progress with her we've been making. But she is quite skittish still. When we're around, even though we open the bathroom door so that she can go out and explore (and yes, we know... hide somewhere impossible to get to her without calling the movers), she just hangs out there.
BUT this morning when I opened the door to check on her and feed her and pet her and such, I found that she'd been bouncing off the walls and playing with all the toys we provided her with. She had ripped all the feathers out of the bungee toy we hung on the doorknob. My guess is that she's familiar with stalking and catching birds!
Maybe she'll turn out to be a samurai after all!
She's awesome. And remember, it's just like when those Terminators come through the time portal. It's a helluva trip and it takes awhile to get your bearings before you can commence with your planned destruction! muhahahahahhahaha!
Oh, I think she's starting to get her bearings, all right! She led us a merry chase last night when we brought her into the living room to have some socializing time. She lounged on the sofa between us, basking in affection and petting, until she decided she wanted to hid under the coffee table. Okay. No prob. But then she moved under the sofa. Which was a problem, as it's hard to get her out from under there. When we tried, she went tearing all over the place! Sheesh!
She staying closer to the kitty palace/bathroom today... she's been in the dining room window watching birds and right now she's under the sideboard.
There's a pattern here, but it's easily explained. This poor gal has spent her whole life up until a few days ago hiding underneath cars. No wonder she would tuck herself into low-slung places!
Poor kitty--we'll change that, I hope!
Glad to hear she's coming around!
"This poor gal has spent her whole life up until a few days ago hiding underneath cars."
This made me think of Casey, gone almost ten years now. Casey liked cats. They weren't particularly fond of him as he was a typically bouncy Golden Retriever, but he liked cats and wanted to check 'em out. They mystified him a bit, but I think he thought they were simply stand-offish dogs.
Anyway, I noticed at one point that whenever we went for a walk Casey always veered towards parked cars and I, being a stupid human, couldn't figure this out for the longest time. Finally I realized that the primary place Casey encountered cats was coming out from beneath cars.
He believed cars were cat incubators.
Oh, Cathy! She's beautiful! And such sweet, sad eyes. What a lucky girl to be given a wonderful, loving home in place of a tough life on the streets!
A bit of encouragement: My friend's cat Fuzzy (the one I posted on my blog about dying at the age of 20) started out as a scared little feral cat. My friend said she was so wild that she could only be handled with oven mitts. Fuzzy turned into the sweetest, most loving, mellow princess of a cat. I've no doubt Mifune will do the same.
New cat is always a learning experience!
She's a beauty!
Gael
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