Shadow

Think Like a Cat – Finding Common Ground for the New Year 2025

As with any year, 2024 saw its share of highs and lows, joys and heartaches. We also saw a time in our nation more polarized than we’ve been accustomed to in recent years. The presidential election brought out the best and worst in many of us, with the results, for some, so unbearable the thought of moving forward in any positive fashion seems unfathomable.

I, for one, was deeply saddened, disappointed, and discouraged by the outcome. But I also believe we must make the most of circumstances and not drown in negativity, anger, or denial. Pick up our bootstraps and adjust our sails, so to speak. Business consultant Susan Graham sums it up nicely:

“Win with humility, lose with grace, and do both with dignity.”

I am still me, and all of you are still you. Despite how it might sometimes seem, this is a wonderful world, and we are blessed to be a part of it. I’m grateful for my cats, family, friends, colleagues, and the birds and squirrels who brighten my world daily. I’m also thankful for my job and my writing and graphic design opportunities. The list goes on, so for 2025, I remain committed to living a life of gratefulness, kindness, compassion, empathy, and tolerance. Nobody can ever take that away from me. Look for common ground in circumstances that don’t always make sense or might not be your opinion or choice. If my mortal enemy cats, Jazmine and Shadow, can find common ground to get along, I think the rest of the world can, too!

It’s been over 5 years, and Jazmine (Left) and Shadow (Right) still don’t get along. Food, however, is their common ground, and for those brief moments at feeding time, all is well with the world.

Happy New Year Everyone! Best Wishes from all of us at Zee & Zoey’s for peace, love, good health, and happiness.

AI generated artwork based on the creative prompts of author and artist, Deborah Barnes.

2024 – The Year of the Shadow

Shadow napping on the couch.

According to the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year, 2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon. While I certainly don’t want to minimize the importance of this ancient custom, I must respectfully say that in our house, it is the year of the Shadow. Why? Because that little black cat of ours that showed up as a kitten in our driveway a little over 4 years ago, in November 2023, has done something we never thought we’d see: he came onto the couch one morning with me and settled in for a nap! Read more

Sharing the Love for National Black Cat Day!

Today is National Black Cat Day and in honor of these glorious creatures, I thought I’d share a bit about the black cats who have been a part of my life. First was Tosha. Tosha was found on the side of the road one evening, on a very dark and cold night in Upstate New York. It was 1981 and it was on the way home from an evening out with my then-husband, Bill, when we spotted her.

We barely saw her, so it must have been the glare of her eyes that caught our attention. She was tiny, shivering, covered in mud, and riddled with fleas. Naturally, we brought her home. We gave her a bath, fed her, and the rest was history. She became part of our family which at the time included an Old English Sheepdog, Murphy, and three cats: Friday, Scrubby, and Meagan.

Tosha’s first picture!

Playing with a ring from a milk jug.

Wow, I’m really dating myself! Look at this ancient TV!

Christmas, 1981. Tosha had only been with us a short while, and I’d already subjected her to wearing a bow!

Tosha was incredibly sweet. She got along with the other cats and her favorite thing was to lie on top of my back when I was stretched out on the couch. Back then, we didn’t snap zillions of photos like we do today so the images I have of her are limited. Social media didn’t exist, blogs didn’t exist, and the quality of photos certainly didn’t exist as you witness in the scanned photos I’ve shared.

Lying on the couch with Tosha on my back!

1984 prior to giving birth to my first son…the calm before the storm!

The majority of her photos were taken prior to 1984. 1984 was the year my first son, Chris, was born, and 1989 was the year my second son, Joe, was born. Photos shifted to primarily being about them. Back then, it was customary to take lots of photos of your kids, have the film developed, make extra copies, and mail pictures of your kids to your relatives. Not like today where at the touch of your phone or computer photos are instantly sent to those you love, including those of your cats, who are family members, too!

1989. Lying on the couch with my son, Chris. I was pregnant at the time with who would be my second son, Joe. Tosha is on top of me, as usual!

1994. The last photo I have of Tosha. You can tell we lived in Florida based on the tropical furniture.

Tosha went through several moves in New York with us, and then ultimately to Florida in 1994 where I live now. She passed peacefully in 1996 and I was without a black cat from then, until the early morning of Friday, November 8, 2019, the morning I discovered a black kitten outside my garage door. We had seven cats at the time and despite how cute this kitten was, it was not my intention to add to our feline family.

A little visitor outside our garage!

I did everything I could to find his owner and I also tried (very unsuccessfully) not to bond with him, because, as I said, it was not my intention to add to our feline family. But the thing is, as time began to tell, it was evident this little guy had probably been abused and deliberately abandoned by whatever human family he had been living with. He had significant trust issues and was prone to biting and scratching my fiancé, Dan, and me whenever we tried to pet him.

Me “not bonding” with our newly found kitten.

I knew in my heart, however, that his best chance for survival and a happy life was with us. Black cats are often the least adopted in shelters, sometimes for ridiculous and erroneous reasons stemming from bad luck and superstitions, with many of them tragically euthanized because they cannot find a forever home. And by this time, I had already named him Shadow, and he was slowly becoming acclimated to the house. Nearly 4 years later, he is absolutely thriving and living the life of a pampered king. He basks in daily naps in the sun and he looks forward to treasured routines such as treats and brushing.

Shadow knows he’s living the good life and it shows in his content face.

He is not a lap cat and he doesn’t snuggle on the couch with the other cats, but that is primarily because our ginger, Jazmine (also a rescue herself) has made it abundantly clear she is still not on board with his presence. Regardless, he’s as happy as can be and we love him dearly. I’m not good at it, and black cats are notoriously hard to photograph, but I have managed to have some fun with my iPhone, capturing a few of those happy moments over the past several years.

Hope you enjoy them! And you if have a black cat (past or present), please share your black cat stories in the comments, I’d love to hear them. Or share pictures of them on social media: today is a great day to spread the word about just how wonderful black cats are!

This is what you get when you sprinkle cat nip on a scratching board!

A very regal moment in our tiki, one of Shadow’s favorite hang-out spots.

Just helpin’ you clean the floor, Mom!

All that’s missing is a cape! Shadow looks like a superhero in this photo!

Occasionally Jazmine and Shadow will be next to one another, forgetting that they don’t get along!

Egyptian cat.

That’s all, folks! Fangs for the memories!

hearts

If you’re interested in tips for taking photos of black cats with your Smartphone that look professionally done, please visit here:

Smartphone Photography and Marketing Tips from the Pros for National Black Cat Day to Increase Adoptions and Black Cat Awareness!

If you’d like to read Shadow’s rescue story, please visit here:

Me and My Shadow – An Unexpected Black Cat Rescue Story

 

A Black Cat and Orange Cat Spell of Friendship for Halloween

Despite Shadow being with us for nearly three years (he showed up at our doorstep on November 8, 2019), the relationship he and Jazmine share is still tenuous. Granted, there are times they can be within a foot of each other without incident, as in the above photo, but those moments are few and far between, and the body language of both shows a cautious truce. They can, however, miraculously forget they are enemies when a can of tuna is opened, with them so intoxicated by the odor it renders them helpless to hissing and swatting, their typical modus operandi. But once the tuna festival is over, it’s back to stare-downs and belligerence. They can even pick each other out from our clowder of seven when everyone is in a group swarm, such as at dinner time, knowing which cat gets a paw swat to the head, and which doesn’t. Sometimes I can barely tell which cat is which, so I find that skill quite the fascinating marvel. They can get along with everyone else, just not each other.

So, for Halloween, I thought why not play a trick, and give everyone a treat? All that’s needed is a little witch’s spell and some help from Photoshop, and voila, you’ll see that anyone can be friends!


A pinch of tuna, a sprinkle of catnip, a ratty old blanket, and an empty box should do. Hocus, Pocus, throw it in the cauldron, do some fancy editing, and there you go, a Happy Meow-O-Ween to you!

Take care everyone and keep those kitties inside, safe and sound for this not-so-pet-friendly holiday.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Our Sweet Black Cat Rescue, Shadow!

November 8, 2019 was the date I heard a meow outside our garage door early in the morning, the day a little black kitten decided our home was the one he knew in his heart would be the perfect forever home for him. He, of course, was right. Despite trying to find his owner, we had a strong hunch he had been both abandoned and abused, so keeping him really was in his best interest and somehow, he seemed to have already known that when he came upon our house. Read more