Meet Shadow

Well, we did it. I got a 2nd kitten! It was totally unexpected and unplanned but I'm in love with him already. He is a dark gray tabby whom we are calling Shadow. I haven't gotten a good picture of him yet but you can see profiles of him with Moon in the pictures below. He is approximately 8 weeks old so that makes him about 2 weeks older than Moon.

So how did this come about? Let me tell you. Friday, I got an email from Dwayne with a picture of a momma cat nursing some kittens. Apparently his coworker's friend sent an email around with the picture to help find homes for them and to show off the surprise of their birth. Apparently, they didn't know they had this bunch of kittens underneith her porch until she saw them all nursing in the front yard. I wrote Dwayne another email back just laughing at him and commenting that it was too late. I was already too invested emotionally and financially in Moon, unless he was interested in a 2nd one? I was totally teasing and just being silly. Well, Dwayne writes me back with a comment like whether or not you get a second kitten is not up to me. I'm staying totally out of that decision. I was like, Huh? Are you serious? Will you really let me have another one? So I called him up immediately. According to him, he was indifferent to the idea. He had no feelings one way or another. Well, you know me. You give me indecision and I'll take advantage. (Giggles with an evil grin.) I did decide in my own head that if the kitten didn't just fall into place and was going to cost us adoption fees, or was getting to complicated to meet the person, I would just bag the whole thing. Fortunately for me, they were giving the kittens away for free and as it turns out they would be ready in a few days. They also only lived about 15 min away. So after several email exchanges, we went last night to pick up our new kitten. I didn't have a lot of choice as they had found homes for everyone. There was a white female with pointed ears that looked very similar to Moon that I wanted but someone else had priority on that one. I had my choice of the last gray one or one of 3 orange tabbies. I took the gray male and now I have two!

It is already working out great! Moon was bottle-fed so he is very attached and cuddly to humans but doesn't have very good kitty habits like burying his poo or grooming himself real well because he didn't have a Momma to show him how. Shadow was raised outside and had a Momma and siblings to play with and show him how to be a cat. But he is a little shy and startles easily. They have been learning from each other and they seem to enjoy one another's company. Shadow was really shy about being held until he saw Moon hop onto my lap and start purring away. He then allowed me to hold and pet him and totally relaxed after a short amount of time. Moon has been eating exclusively soft food and still making a mess. But after seeing Shadow eat the solid kibble, this morning he started eating hard food for the first time. It is fun to see them learning from each other and even though Shadow is still a little shy, I am amazed at how much he has settled in just overnight. I think these two will be life-long buds and they will both be quite attached to us. Which is fine. I try really hard to make life-long commitments to my animal friends when I bring them into our lives.

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