a new roommate

About a month ago, I adopted a second rescue kitty [in part to keep my first one, Pepper-of-the-Missing-Paw, company when I return to work]. I got her from "Pets in Need", an excellent no-kill shelter here in the Bay Area [if you are looking for a place to support and/or to get your next dog or cat, please be sure to check them out], and she came with the name "Zena Louise". That simple yet non-descriptive name has since morphed into "ZeanBean" and "Beaner", in recognition of the fact that she is a large black fuzzy beanbag of a cat. [A bonus: she has a fabric tube thing she likes to hang out in...when she's in it, I refer to it as the "Bean Burrito". Har har har...]

She was mauled by a dog when she was younger, and now has nerve damage to her hips. She is still mobile, but doesn't have fine motor control over her back legs...which gives her a hilarious "fishtailing" kind of swagger when she walks down the hall, and it means that when she wants to sit down, she just kind of *thunks* her hinder down and stays wherever it lands. She spent two years in a shelter, and between that and her hip problems, she came to my home weighing almost 19 pounds [now you understand "large black fuzzy beanbag"]. Now, with a diet of indoor cat formula and much more activity, she is down to a still-slightly-larger-than-svelte 14 pounds.

[The picture above was taken the day I brought her home...my lap isn't the smallest, and she overflowed it past my knees. Not a small kitty...]

Happily, she has settled in nicely, if a bit rambunctiously. For a cat with mobility problems, she gets around: she's found the toilet paper roll, the facial tissues, the space behind the dryer, the space behind the couch, the space under the bookshelf, the decorative box of mini building blocks [which have since been moved out of her reach], and who knows what else. She's picked out her favorite toys, and unlike Pepper, doesn't get bored with them...where he gives up after a few minutes with a very hoity "Okay, I'm done now" attitude, she will keep playing and playing and swatting and chasing and playing and [you get the idea].

She's a total lapkitty, and loves to plunk her beanbag body onto your nice warm lap. I've put a footstool by the couch to help her climb up, as well as an ottoman by the bed [otherwise she kept trying to jump up and failing, which had me fearing both for her and for my bedspread as she dug her claws in to try to save herself]. She and Pepper get along pretty well...they don't fight much, just the occasional "oh, yeaaahh??" hiss from one to the other, and they will both lie happily in the same room with me and can pass each other in the hall without incident [a cat-loving friend of mine told me that this is a very good thing...and was amazed that they would relax and sleep in the same room together after less than a month].

I've got more photos of the latest roommate, and some time in the next few weeks hope to get them off my camera and up online somewhere. I'm also in the process of uploading a video of Zena presenting me with a gift...she has one toy mouse [see the pic to the left] that exists solely for her to carry around in her mouth whilst giving the most plaintive "mowr mowr mowr" sounds. When she finds me, she then drops the mouse in front of me and sits proudly in front of it. You cat people will know what I'm talking about...and I'm glad it's a *toy* mouse that she finds to give me, as I've had cats in the past that felt the real thing was a much better gift [ick].

Watch this space for a link to the video...it's coming soon...