Friday, October 2, 2009

It's a Bird! It's a Cat! ... It's a Dog?

As you all know Michael and I lost Ninja this past August. Awhile later we went to the local SPCA to look at dogs and ferrets. We had no intention of getting another cat as it was much too soon for us. However, try going to an SPCA this summer and not seeing a cat was impossible, so we looked around. We got to the kitten room and it was filled with solid black kittens, very much like Ninja. At first it was hard to look at them, but they were too cute to resist as all kittens are. So we played around with them still not intending to adopt any. As the day wore one our reserves wore thin and one little kitten stuck out and we kept coming back to the room to watch him scamper around. After some discussion in the sitting area we agreed to get him. We were not sure how it would all pan out, but we were sure we would love him.

He was nameless for the first full day, but Mike had decided on a name secretly. Playing his favorite game I had to guess what the name was... after numerous incorrect guesses he gave me the clue " He looks just like one". I still had no idea so Mike gave in and told me,
"Shadow, duhhh". Immediately we discovered that Shadow's energy at the SPCA was only half. When paired with Elouise (after some adjustment period) the two run throughout the apartment and cause all sorts of mischief and a lot of cleaning up.

After a few weeks subtle hints began to show that made Mike and I pause. Some of his behaviors were very dog like. He would beg for food, no matter what we were eating. He would wag his tail from side to side. He would give kisses on the nose. And then one day he played fetch...






Shadow is a great cat, he loves to snuggle and play and meow meow meow all day long. He and Ninja could have been brothers based on their appearances, but their personalities are very different. Ninja can never be replaced, but Shadow is a great addition to family.

P.S. Shadow continued to play fetch for another ten minutes after I stopped recording. He will only stop if you stop, just like a dog.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a great cat. Mike is a great guy to allow another one. Now does shadow drink from the toilet?

zach

cat behavior meaning said...

Maybe there are different reasons why your cat acts like that...

in my own opinion there are 3 maybes:

- maybe he was treated by his first owner as a dog.

- maybe his owner also owns a dog so he also learned the different trick a dog can do

- maybe he just love to act a dog!

But whatever it is, its just my opinion :)


biting cat