Day 2

This is Slinky. She's about 3 1/2 years old, and we got her when she was about 8 weeks old. Her "sister" Sadie (a tuxedo kitty who will probably be featured later) is actually about a week or two younger, though their two litters were raised together up to that point and we got them at the same time.



We named Slinky after a few days of having her due to her actions, not so much her looks at the time. She was kind of scraggly, not real soft, and her fur wasn't all that full. She was also quite skittish - most of the kittens the woman we got her from were outdoor/barn kitties. Apparently this woman has a reputation for taking in unwanted kitties and she can't keep track of how many pregnant mamas get dumped on her doorstep out in the country. Anyway... Slinky would do her best to skirt around the edges of the room, staying as far away from us as possible. She was so tiny she could even slip between the upright piano and the wall to slink around to the other side of the room. Hence, her name - Slinky.

When Sadie and Slinky were about 6 months old we took them in to be spayed. Neither of them had warmed up enough to be lap-cats, though Sadie tolerated being petted and was wonderful with the kids. Sarah was only 5 months old when we got the kitties, so she's just a couple months older than they are. Hannah was 2 1/2, and she would pick Sadie up and carry her around, while Sarah would lay on top of her on the floor, and she was great. Slinky, on the other hand, still wanted nothing to do with us. I even offered her on Freecycle as a barn cat because she was so skittish, even after 4 months in our home. I'm glad no one wanted her though, because after she was spayed, she started warming up to us. It's been little bits here and there, starting out with stretching her nose out to sniff at our toes or finger tips, eventually moving on to laying on my feet while I'm working at the computer, and in the last year and a half she has made real strides! I wouldn't call her a lap-cat (which Sadie has become - I can't sit on the couch 2 seconds without Sadie hopping into my lap), but Slinky has been known to sneak over onto my lap a few times, and she gets quite insistent about having attention bestowed upon her, even if she isn't crawling into a lap.

Now her name is much more befitting of her looks. Her fur is luxuriously soft and thick and soooo nice to touch.