This blog is six months late and I don’t know if I have very good reasons why. Six months ago, almost to the day, we added a new member to our family.
Back story
Smokey Dorito Smith was our neighbor’s cat and oddly enough, Colby was OK with him being around despite him also being a male. We always thought it was because he was young and Colby was teaching him to “cat”. The neighbor’s kids called him Dorito but my husband didn’t like that name plus he didn’t really answer to it. I thought it was adorable but again, he never answered to it. We renamed him Smokey but I like fur kids to have a middle name so I call him Smokey Dorito when I’m either annoyed or feeling affectionate!
Well, the neighbors moved to the west side of the country and decided they couldn’t take the cat with them, especially where they ended up getting a house to live in. They were going to drop him off at the shelter and we just didn’t like that idea so we offered to take him if the other neighbor who was interested not to take him.
Well, this was around early November when these conversations started and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that Colby suddenly died mid-November. We felt like it was a sign that we should take on the cat but we knew he had never been to the vet before and lived most of his life outside. So, when our neighbors moved in mid-December, we took over feeding him but didn’t let him inside until we got him checked out at the vet. It turns out that was a smart move because he had worms, likely from being such a good bird cat and mouser!
Getting adjusted
It turns out that adding a new cat to an established dog/cat household is much more difficult than adding a new dog to the same household. We spent about a month going back and forth between Smokey being outside/locked up in the back room or allowed to roam the house while the dogs were either outside or in their crates. It took a long time (it felt to me) for Smokey to not be afraid to come down the hallway when the dogs were in their crates. Eventually, he and Fritz made their peace and now Jazzy and Smokey get along fairly well.
He’s still an indoor/outdoor cat but he knows he has to come inside if he wants fed and he’s figuring out that being outside in a storm is much less fun than being inside curled up on the couch!
Smokey has become my cuddle buddy and even though it’s nothing like Colby, it’s nice to have my “boys” (Fritz is still a mama’s boy) want to be close with me when I am napping or watching TV.
Six month later
As I said, it’s been six months since Smokey joined our home as one of the #Smithkitties and it feels weird that Colby has been gone that long. I still feel like we are adjusting and learning each other and that seems strange to me. But what do I know? He’s only my third time to have a cat! Missy and Colby were so different from each other that I have to remember that like dogs (and people), each cat is going to have his or her own story and personality.
Whatever it turns out to be, Smokey Dorito is definitely a part of the family and is home!
