Another Black Cat

Blackie is such a common sort of name for a black cat and her story started off far too common. A few months ago a college student got a kitten. She got her spayed, which was a good thing, but also had her declawed. Sure enough, when school ended the parents said no and Blackie was homeless. When she got to us she had an eye injury and something had gone wrong with her declawing operation. Her feet were clearly very sore as was her right eye. Understandably she was a very crabby little cat. We did the best we could with her eye and her feet and put her in the cat room. For the first week or so she stayed crabby – almost untouchable. She wouldn't come near people. I honestly feared that she wasn't going to make it. The next week she played with toys and then the next week she tentatively approached a volunteer for some affection. After a couple weeks more she was a sweet as sugar giving hugs, purring and snuggling. Now Blackie had only two obstacles to overcome. One, her eye was scarred for life - marring an otherwise adorable face and two, she was black. Black cats are without question the hardest for us to place – and we get lots of them. On the 18th a lady and her husband came in looking for a younger cat to replace another that had been very affectionate and playful. They were attracted to a grey and white kitten but I took a chance and introduced them to Blackie. She did the rest. She put on all the cat charm she had. In fact, I think her bad eye gave her a pathos that was irresistible. They were hooked. I met the lady today at the shelter as she was coming to finalize the papers. Her friends are teasing her because she sent out adoption announcements with a stork on them. She said they were threatening to throw a kitty shower. We both thought that would be a fine idea.