It's been nearly a year since my 17.5 year old tabby point Siamese disappeared while my husband and I were in the UK. WE finally found his remains a month or more after we got back - he was just curled up as though he'd fallen asleep so our worst fear that he'd been taken by a coyote were not true.
I've been looking at cats on the local Humane Society website but since we still have to get the porch roof repaired, and the upstairs deck and downstairs screen porch rebuilt, I'd been delaying.
A friend had a plain dark tabby cat, neutered male about a year old, that her daughter adopted in Pensacola as possible barn cat. He is definitely not a barn cat. He's very gentle, and likes being indoors. The daughter brought him home for the summer - and she can't have a cat where she will be living this fall. The family is a dog family - they have several Labradors that get along with this cat, but the son's blue heeler makes out that she would love to eat a cat. The cat has been living on their screened porch.
Today I stopped by the Humane Society's local cat cafe. They serve coffee and other quick drinks and have a big window into a room full of cats. I'd been watching a pair of cats for months - they showed up months ago as three month old sisters, brown tabbies, but they have not been adopted since they need to go as a pair. We really only want two cats so they would have been great but...
My friend offered to bring over the dark tabby that her daughter had adopted. They really need to find a home for him before winter. He is a sweet cat, not very big but weighs about twice what I expected for his size. Beautiful green eyes. The daughter calls him Rascal but her mom calls him Kittiboi (she probably spells it KittyBoy, BTW). I'm not sure either name will stick if we keep him. ("IF" - HAH!)
He seems to be settling in, which is kind of bad news. I'd planned to introduce our two new cats at the same time so neither would feel as though they 'owned' the space. I may have to go back to the cat cafe tomorrow and adopt the light gray tabby female they have. She is equally relaxed, used to people since she has been in the cafe's cat room for months where they let people come in and meet the cats. Or there a tuxedo male with medium length hair that might work...
If I get another cat right away, Kittiboi will not have time to claim the place completely, I hope.
My husband has not met the new cat yet.
I'll post pics as soon as possible.