a new cat

Well, it's looking like we have a new cat.  

Some good friends of ours befriended a feral cat awhile back.  They took him to the local SNAP (Spay-Neuter Assistance Program), where he got his shots and got neutered.  And THEN they gave him to us.

It's still an open question as to how well our first cat, a (black) female we call Luna, is going to get along with the new kid on the block.  The hissing and back-arching has subsided, but they're not exactly playing with each other yet.  

Even though we have given him his own stuff, he eats from her bowls, he pees and craps in her litter box, and she lets him, which is great.  He still has a feral habit of digging in the dirt (in our indoor potted plants) and leaves a "treat" there, along with a lot of dirt on the floor.  Need to break him of that habit.

When we got him, his given name was Goober.  He just didn't seem like a Goober, so we have been playing with names for him.  Currently, we are calling him "Frankie P-Brain Goober".  (Frankie for his ol' blue eyes; P-Brain for his ... tiny brain)

He's very lovable.  He wants constant petting and his purr machine cranks right up, while Luna keeps a wary distance.  She's never been too much of a touchy-feely cat.  He's still very nervous around people, though.  If you try to pet him with both hands, he thinks you're trying to pick him up, so he just lays down on the floor.  Sometimes he backs up while laying on the floor, which looks pretty funny.

I have not been able to get a good, clear photo of this wild animal yet.  He won't stay still for more than 1/2 a second, so most pictures I've tried are blurry.

We think he may be part vampire, because he will sleep all day downstairs under the bed.  When the sun goes down, he comes out and comes upstairs until morning.  As soon as the sun starts coming up, he goes back downstairs.

We took him and Luna to our vet last week and fortunately, both animals got a clean bill of health.  When we told him that the cats were not getting along (and they were not, last week) they said to give it another couple of weeks.  If, in that time, the two cats are still not getting along, then they can help us find another home for the P-Brain.  We'll see.