Saturday, August 17, 2013

Panther Turns One

by Julia Buckley
This was Panther's professional shelter picture.
"This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine."  So said Prospero in Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, claiming the detestable Caliban.  I use the line in a different, more positive way: we just celebrated the first birthday of the kitten we adopted last year.  His shelter name was Elroy, but we named him Panther.


If there is a container anywhere, Panther will find it and sit in it.
He does not hide, as some of our more private cats tend to do.
He seeks out people and enjoys playing with them.



He especially loves my son Graham, whom he allows to manhandle him
to a ridiculous extent.  When Graham is sleeping and Panther gets bored without him,
he tries everything to wake the poor boy up,
 including biting his toes and trying to nose his eyes open.

He likes playing with blankets, strings, toy mice, shoes, bottle caps, the dog's tail.
He chases our only female cat, Rose, all over the house, and she hisses
with displeasure.  We think she's playing hard to get.  :)


He's a very photogenic fellow, as you can see from 
his patriotic 4th of July photo.

This was Panther when he was a brand new resident of our house.

And this was Panther at Christmastime.  You can see that he's filled out a bit.  :)

Nowadays Panther enjoys spending most days on his tall cat tower or hanging out with Graham.  Graham walks around with Panther under his arm as though he's a stuffed animal, and Panther acts as though this is okay.  Then the two of them sit down together to watch tv.  Graham strokes Panther's head and seemingly hypnotizes him, because Panther invariably goes to sleep.

The only thing that keeps Panther from his relaxation or his playtime is his deep love of food.  He's been hungry since the day we got him, and when he hears a can opening he develops winged feet.  He jumps on the microwave table, where he likes to take his Fancy Feast treats, and there he waits with an angelic expression.

Everyone sort of mocked me for deciding to adopt a fourth cat, but now no one can imagine life without Panther.  He is our glossy black friend, our furry companion.  And now he is a whole one year old.

Who are the pets you can't imagine not having in your life?




12 comments:

Debi Huff said...

My shelter cat, Polly, is the light of my life. She is so grateful for me bringing her home and loves to snuggle. Best thing I ever did!!

Julia Buckley said...

Polly's a great name! What does she look like?

Katreader said...

I remember when you adopted Panther as I also adopted a black kitten last year and he turned 1 in May. Thankfully Licorice seems to have outgrown all of his health problems. He loved to torment Seneca, my eldest cat who sadly crossed the Rainbow Bridge recently. Now he loves to wrestle with Aleister, my other black cat. Calumet, my grey cat, is always putting Licorice in his place. Rounding out my family are Sam, my elderly one-eyed dog with major health problems, Harley, an OTTB I board, and 8 rats (Zywiec, Blizzard, Neige, Beowulf, Izzy, Parsifal, Siegmund, and Cavaradossi). Sadly rats only live 2-3 years, so I only spend a short time with them. Zywiec is almost 3. In age my kids range from 22 years (the horse) to about 1 year (3 of the rats).

Anonymous said...

Adorable pictures... thank you for sharing... Thelma Straw in Manhattan, who lost Miss Priss - red Persian - two years ago...

Julia Buckley said...

Katreader, you have a real gift for naming pets! Your menagerie sounds delightful, and how cool to picture your black cats double-teaming everyone. :)

What's an OTTB? I thought of Off-track betting. :)

Julia Buckley said...

Thelma--Miss Priss sounds beautiful. I always wanted a Persian or a Siamese--maybe with my next cat. :)

Sandra Parshall said...

Panther is a beauty. I love black cats and have had several in my life. For the last 12 years, though, our tabby Emma and Aby Gabriel have been my companions, and it's hard to imagine the household without them.

Julia Buckley said...

Those are great names, too! Our first "babies" after we were married were two brown tabby brothers that we named Cato and Clouseau. :)

Kath said...

Nikki is our solo cat now. He's another ebony beauty like your panther. His mother found us, but only Nikki is left. He's allowed us to make him a mostly indoor kitty. Well, he does have to do a 7 am perimeter check outside to begin the day. Then inside to keep us all in line.

Katreader said...

Close Julia, an OTTB is an off track thoroughbred. Harley raced under the name Bad to the Bone/ Some of my kids had names already when I adopted them-if I liked them well enough, they stayed. Of my current kids, the ones I didn't name are Harley, Sam, Beowulf, and Izzy.

J.R. said...

Kath, your Nikki sounds like a perfect companion!

Kat, I love the name Beowulf. :)
And that horse sounds beautiful--but I'm guessing a lot of work and money goes into caring for him.

Jeri Westerson said...

We love our kitties. And, apparently, we love the name Graham. That is also MY son's name.