May this Thanksgiving bring you peace, love, safety, and reasons to reflect on what’s still good in this world and in your life. We’re grateful for all the friendships we’ve made on this blog and always appreciate your visits.

Love and purrs from Deb and her feline gang (as seated in order at the table, starting bottom left) Shadow, Peanut, Rolz, Mia, Zee, Zoey, Kizmet, and Jazmine.

And as we share every year, when it comes to our kitties, no matter how tempting it might be to give certain foods to our feline friends, please keep the tips to follow in mind for the health and safety of your cat.

A year ago today, a small black kitten showed up in front of our garage in the early, dark hours of the morning. Already a seven cat home, we were not looking to expand our feline family. But it was meant to be and this little guy who we named Shadow is now celebrating his first Gotcha Day with us. We could have never predicted the crazy world we live in now back then, but we could predict Shadow would fill our hearts with love and joy.

Happy first Gotcha Day Shadow – you’ve turned into a gorgeous and gregarious handsome panther cat and here’s to hoping for many, many more years together!

My first photo with Shadow in November 2019. He’s gotten so big since then!

October is National Black Cat Awareness Month* and last Saturday (aka Caturday) to promote the cause, I shared a photo on several Facebook pages dedicated to black cats of my black cat rescue, Shadow, with the brief caption, “Celebrate! The Beautiful Black Cat.” The picture was simple – a closeup of him with an uncluttered, softened background, with my equally simple call to action in the text of the post: “October is Black Cat Awareness Month, so let’s celebrate this Caturday by sharing the awesomeness of black cats with pictures of your beauties today! This lovely model is our rescue, Shadow, who showed up at our doorstep about a year ago.” Read more

For Mia and me, our happiest moments are those that are also the quietest.

I love all my cats, each for their wonderfully distinct personalities, but I share a special affinity for my sweet Mia, a cat who most vividly mirrors me, were I a cat and she a human. We both have our moments of strength and boldness, but for the most part, we are introverts at heart, rather unbothered by our frequent desire for peace and solitude. Read more

Then and now. Our Jazmine has matured into such a beautiful adult cat.

Seven years. Our precious, beautiful, and loving ginger baby, Jazmine, is seven years old today. When Dan and I first came upon her at Global Pet Expo in March of 2014 at the Imperial Cat booth as a rescue kitten up for adoption, there was an initial internal struggle of “do we,” or “don’t we,” despite her melting our hearts instantly upon looking at her sweet face. It wasn’t so much because we didn’t want to, it was more a matter of me specifically. We had recently lost our beloved Ragdoll, Jazz, in 2013 and I didn’t know if I was mentally ready for another cat in my life or acclimating it to our seven other residing cats in an already fragile cat dynamic, no matter how ridiculously adorable this kitten was. Read more