{"id":21384,"date":"2024-03-25T00:10:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T04:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=21384"},"modified":"2024-03-24T16:33:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T20:33:56","slug":"2024-the-year-of-the-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/2024-the-year-of-the-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 – The Year of the Shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shadow napping on the couch.<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year, 2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon. While I certainly don\u2019t 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\u2019d see: he came onto the couch one morning with me and settled in for a nap!<\/p>\n

It might not seem like much on the surface, but it\u2019s a big deal. A really big deal.<\/strong> Never once in the time he\u2019s been part of our household has he felt comfortable enough to do that. For those that might not know, or remember, when he came to Dan and me, we suspected that he had probably been abused by someone and subsequently abandoned.<\/p>\n

He had feral tendencies, as well as significant trust issues, and acclimating him into our multi-cat household has been challenging to say the least. Except for Jazmine, the others eventually welcomed him, or more so, tolerated him with the understanding there wasn\u2019t much they could do about his presence, and it wasn\u2019t worth making a fuss over it.<\/p>\n

Over the years, we\u2019ve been able to pet him and brush him without him biting or scratching us like he used to, but the extent of his interaction in the household as far as napping has primarily been limited to solitary snoozing on our kitchen windowsill or occasional ventures into our bedroom. His need to feel safe and unthreatened guided his every moment, so when he jumped onto the couch with me, I silently cried. I did not pet him, as I knew even the slightest attention could cause him to run, but I was at least able to grab a photo.<\/p>\n

In the weeks to follow, he occasionally took to napping on the couch with Mia, Peanut, and Rolz by his side. Admittedly, it was a bit tenuous. If one of them realized he was next to them, there has been fighting. But still, it’s progress.<\/p>\n

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Shadow with Mia, Peanut, and Rolz.<\/p><\/div>\n

He\u2019s also ventured out of his comfort zone and taken to napping on the settee next to Dan during the day, and at night, in our spare bedroom (meaning he must walk past 6 cats to get there). He was also willing to give up his beloved kitchen windowsill for Rolz, content to sleep on the counter next to him (of course, I brought him a towel to make sure he was comfortable).<\/p>\n

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Shadow on the settee next to where Dan works during the day.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Shadow sleeping in the guest bedroom.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Shadow sharing his beloved windowsill with Rolz.<\/p><\/div>\n

I wish I could say that napping on the couch was an everyday thing. It\u2019s somewhat random and has been occurring less frequently of late, but honestly, any small step is a victory. I also wish the photos were of better quality, but when you are dealing with a skittish cat, you don’t have time for perfect lighting or a perfect setting.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, for the rest of the world, yes, it\u2019s the Year of the Wood Dragon. But at our house, we\u2019re grateful to celebrate the Year of the Shadow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year, 2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon. While I certainly don\u2019t 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1423,1098,1097,1394,1099],"tags":[1526,1527],"class_list":["post-21384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-cats","category-cat-behavior","category-multi-cat-home","category-shadow","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-feline-feline-bond","tag-gaining-trust"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3.big-deal_Shadow.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21384"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21394,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21384\/revisions\/21394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}