I think I might’ve shared this story earlier, cant’ remember.
Shadow was a happenstance pet. My kitty was getting older, and I was thinking about having a few years with no pets at all, just one less thing to worry about for awhile and maybe make travel easier. My co-worker found cardboard box full of kittens at our mall, left out in the rain. They were so young the shelters wouldn’t take him so she got goats milk and bottle fed them and then for weeks stalked anyone in the office she knew had cats to take them. I said no, over and over and over again. I also told her my senior cat would never forgive me if I did.
She got all of them but two adopted, a third she was worried about because the owner was kind of odd and might return her.
Then she told me a weird story about Shadow, which I know is true because she has repeated it, verbatim, to multiple people over the years. Apparently he crawled into a recliner they had and their son used the recliner, reclined in it. The cat fell out, lay on the floor and didn’t make a sound. They thought he was dead, that his spine was broken. Then they found out he was breathing and they were about to use a gun to put him out of his misery when they ultimately decided to take him to the vet, just to be sure. He didn’t make a sound or move the entire way. The vet takes him in the back and then around ten minutes or so comes out with a cat purring wiggling in their arms. They’re ask if they are sure he was hurt; they explain, again what happens, and then the vet tells him the kitten was probably in shock.
So a couple of days later they’re telling me Shadow needs a special home because he’s a “special” home.
I look her straight in the eyes, and I’m like, you want to give me your dumbest cat?
A few days later I call her up and say let’s bring him in. If he goes for any of my cords, we’ll have a problem. My house is neither pet or kid safe, it’s just my oldest cat knows better. Obviously he got to stay, not only that though about a week later I am doing the furniture shimmy thing with a large book shelf. (It’s what you do when you have one set of hands and arms and don’t want to bother someone to drive over to move it one inch other.) He gets under it while I am still holding this massive thing, and I’m thinking oh no! I’m going to break his neck when can’t hold this thing anymore. What do I do. So I just sort of kick and hiss at him trying to get him out while not losing my balance or grip. Good news, he is still with us today.
Shadow got his name because he follows people around almost like a puppy. He isn’t the smartest but he was there because he likes being where others are and of course gets in the way when he does. He also chases shadows on the wall when they move, like when a car’s light makes them move, and he has knocked down a few pictures doing this. And the fact he is grey also works for his name, but yeah he is a dumped littler survivor. And I tried to get the other one from the litter but by the time i made up my mind, aka my precious older kitty didn’t seem THAT miserable from the addition, she had already given that one away.
I actually think Shadow would do pretty well with almost any cat; it’s the other cat’s tolerance I worry about. I would also get a like cat age or within a year or two, not a kitten. I am not sure I can handle a kitten again and, well, kittens get adopted pretty quickly.
