My new baby

No pictures of him yet, he's still scared so I'm not going to push it. Not sure he'd mind but I'll post pics when I take some.

His name is Mitchell but I despise that name so he will end up renamed whenever we figure out a good name for him. For now I think I'll use Mr. Black until he has a name.

He is(obviously) all black and big. He weighs 12 lbs and some change, Nuts was 12.5 lbs on our scale. Mr. Black is bigger in body size so he is rather thin at the moment. He also has a very very long thin tail. His tail is as long as his entire body from his rump to the back of his head.

He has obviously been raised with dogs since he is letting Dexter do whatever he wants with him(which is just him sniffing Mr. Black and pestering him wanting to get acquainted(Mr. Black has been sniffing him back) it is going almost too well. They has been no issues, no hissing, no growling, or barking and no aggression, nothing. Mr. Black doesn't care if Dexter follows him around everywhere(I'm trying to make Dex give him his space) He however has decided he owns the place and is exploring everywhere. He has also used the litter box so he is in fact litter trained(you always have to worry about that a little.) He seems to be a very submissive cat and Dex is a submissive dog so it might just work out, it has so far.

Like I said I'll post pictures when I get dome, he wasn't up on pet finder yet so I can't just post a link there.

He has the world biggest purr and is just a lover.

I hope this works out he seems to be a perfect addition to our family. I'll post more about him tomorrow when I get to know him a little better, we've only had him since about 4 PM.

Taryn

Yay for you!
We found Nub-e (AKA Ricky Bobbie) on petfinder a couple weeks ago ourselves so it is fun having a new cat in the house.

I can't wait to see pics sweetie! He sounds gorgeous!

ConCATulations on your new addition! Can't wait to see your little boy!

Can't wait to see pics!! He sounds like a sweetie and a great addition to your family!!

This picture isn't the greatest. I couldn't get his eyes to quit reflecting.



Any name ideas?

Taryn

Originally Posted by Taryn

This picture isn't the greatest. I couldn't get his eyes to quit reflecting.



Any name ideas?

Taryn

Click to expand...

Looks like a Shadow to me. But he is a beauty.

It's difficult to get a good pic of a black cat - you actually did really good. I try to get ours in a place where it doesn't require a flash to take the pic - like the pic where I found him on top of the refrigerator - a lot of light, didn't need to use the flash.

Name ?
Maybe ?? Jett???

http://www.cat-names.us/database.asp

I don't know - maybe just my experience - but the black cats that we've had have such wonderful, easy-going temperaments, sounds like Mr. Black is another fine example of that. Sometimes is scary when he's around a dog because he doesn't seem to know it could be very dangerous.

Our KiKi hasn't met a dog or a cat that he doesn't like, and he is such a lover!

You're blessed to have him in your family.

Best way to photograph black cats is in bright, natural light, with no flash.

He's lovely, and looks like my inlaws' two black kitties.


If I had a male black cat, I'd consider calling him Jet, after Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop

He looks like a Braxton to me. Such a handsome boy!

Someone mutilated him, no wonder he had no freaking clue what a scratching post is or what to do with it. Someone DECLAWED him.

Paul mentioned he appeared to not have claws, he couldn't feel any, so I went to clip them(if he did in fact have claws I knew they would be overgrown, that was what Paul was checking for overgrown claws) and sure enough no claws in front(and he didn't want me to do his back claws, they can wait until he settles in) He was already chipped, I want his name if the chip registers it and nothing else. I don't care if he is someone's missing cat(they think they contacted someone regarding his chip and no one came to claim him but they are so overloaded with cats who knows if they did or didn't) he isn't going back to someone who mutilated him, unless they agree to have all their fingers amputated at the first joint.

I'm mad, someone put him through a lot of pain and suffering so they wouldn't have to teach him to use a scratching post(or simply use Soft Claws), which is NOT that hard. I taught both Attitude and Nuts to use a post and used Soft Claws very short term when they first moved in(they weren't needed) and then again short term when Nuts decided the box spring was too much of a temptation. I felt bad putting Soft Claws on Attitude and Nuts because they couldn't tear up their scratching posts like they wanted to. I think what makes it even worse is he came in as a stray, so he was on the streets with zero ability to defend himself.

He is such a sweetheart too, he doesn't bite, and he appears to have perfect litter box manners. I feel so bad for him(he's only around 2 years old), someone mutilated him. I can't say what I really want to put about the person who could do this, but lets just say it involves a lot of words that we're not allowed to say here. I hate people a times, I really do.

Taryn

Awwww, what a sweety!

Aww, poor fella . But at least he found you, where he can live a normal kitty life, as much as he can without his claws. If you have any cat trees around that require climbing, modifying them so he can jump from perch to perch will prevent him from feeling demoralized about it. And try the cardboard catnip scratchy pads. . .even my de-clawed boy loves them, and I think they make him feel more normal. Of course, around here they get "softened up" by the other cats scratching them, I'm not sure a fresh new pad would be comfortable on clawless paws. Maybe if you rub something on it to break up the fibers a bit first.

He's a handsome boy! I like the name Simon. Or Riker.

I agree, poor guy! But at least he found you.

WHAT a gorgeous fella!!!!!

Congratulations - and welcome home Mr. Black!

I have 4 scratching posts(no trees) around including a cardboard one and he has zero clue what to even do with them. He looked at me like I was stupid when I put catnip on the cardboard scratcher(he doesn't react to catnip ether.)
He didn't like the softened side(from Nuts) or the slightly used, 99% intact side(by Nuts.)

Someone taught him not to get on counters, which is a problem since that is where his food is. I just pick him up everytime he comes in here in case he wants to eat. He's also picky. He should get over that since he'll eat what I serve(I'm remembering what flavors of canned food he seems to like and which ones he doesn't) and of course he won't touch the dry ToTW.

Dexter wants to play with him so badly but Mr. Black won't play back. We haven't had any problems except he is terrified of the door opening. He runs everytime the door opens, I think he's afraid of getting lost again.

Taryn

He is so beautiful

Here's some names:
Midnight
Shadow
Nightshade
Phantom

What if the person who lost him isn't the one who had him declawed.

Not everyone knows that declawing is what it is when the declawing is done.
I didn't know better until I became a member of this forum.

What if that person also rescued him knowing that he had been declawed and tried to do everything he/she could to keep him inside and protected but someone left the door open one day and he decided to explore and got lost.

Just sayin' - if it were me, I'd try to confirm if the chip does or does not lead to someone that is crying right now. I know from personal experience that I needed to do everything I could to confirm the two stray cats that we adopted were truly homeless. Every now and then I wonder if someone is so sad because their precious cat is no longer with them and they don't know what happened. But, I did do everything I could think of to locate a former caretaker and I have no regrets.

From your description he has great house manners, even though getting on the counter top isn't a problem for you.

I agree, he probably is afraid of getting lost again - what a terrible fearful experience for him.

You are so sweet to open your heart to him, he is a fortunate cat.

He is a gorgeous, sleek boy . Congratulations!! For some reason, Duncan or Dawson came to mind when I saw his picture. Enjoy him, he sounds very sweet!!!

He has to get his rabies shot since he hasn't had one yet. I also need to get him his FeLV shot(I don't think I'll ever repeat it unless he's a door dasher, the FeLV is outside. Now that I know he is declawed I'm not even going to see if he takes to a leash and harness, not that he'd ever be on the ground outside around here, even if I was going to try it.) I will have them fully check out his microchip to see if any info comes from it. He was a 'free' cat(the owner of the rescue is good friends with our neighbor Mitzi and when she heard of Nuts' death she offerred to give us a cat for free. It's the same rescue we go Dexter from.) They knew enough to scan him which tell me that I think they checked everything out since they didn't bother to scan Dexter because they knew he wasn't chipped.

He hissed at Dexter and growled slightly at him(Dexter was going overboard trying to entice him to play he really wants to play with the cat), Mr. Black then figured he had told the dog how it was going to be so he laid down and went straight to sleep. They will lay on either side of me if I'm on the couch or bed with their backs to each other and have since we got Mr. Black home. Mr. Black also slept with me last night on the couch. They can be close to each other without any problems.

He's going to be named Sirius Black, but we're going to call him Mr. Black. I got what I wanted and I saved him from being named Sylvester and being called Sly. That could still change, we'll see, but I think he is going to be named Sirius Black and called Mr. Black. I might refer to him as Sirius(or switch back and forth) here because it's easier than typing out Mr. Black. I know I need to change my signature but I don't want to remove my current one, I don't want to leave out Attitude and Nuts on my signature.

He has pawed(and would have scratched) the couch and my computer chair(neither of which matter to me he could reduce them to timber and I wouldn't care as long as I can still sit on them, neither is worth crap) so I'm thinking I know why he was declawed. I don't agree with what they did, there are better ways to deal with it, but it looks like they had their reasons and it wasn't just an automatic thing. It gives me some kind of relief that they didn't just hack off his claws just 'because.' Not much though, poor baby.

I do think we would have had to think about it a lot more closely if we knew he was declawed because I'd be worried about him being able to 'defend' himself against the dog. I will say Nuts never used his claws against Dexter, a hiss, growl, half hearted swipe or smack from a cat, is effective to tell Dexter he's being a pest and to knock it off.

There are also people who fully know what a declawing is and do it anyways(Mitzi for one, she calmed me down when I started ranting and raving about it when I walking Dexter.) Like I said the rescue didn't say he was declawed so I expected claws and was just shocked when I went to clip them and didn't find any. Paul and I had to hold him down(not hard, just to keep him from flipping over, he didn't really fight us) to clip his back claws, they were way overgrown and sticking out of his back paws. Hopefully I never have to clip them again, I rarely had to do Attitude or Nuts' back claws(usually only if I got scratched up when they jumped on or off me) and they needed front clips every week or two depending on how often they were using their scratching posts(more use meant sharper claws.) He doesn't seem to care that he doesn't have his claws, I'm thinking he was done when he was chipped and neutered.

I'm not sure he can actually(physically) jump up on the counter. When I put fresh canned food in his bowl(he gets one can a day, I'm doing it the same way I did with Nuts) and he started meowing(he has a LOUD meow, just like his LOUD purr) and pawing at the cabinets. I took him to the other side of the counter and put him on the TV tray I put next to the counter and had him climb onto the counter on his own. I'm trying to teach him to use the TV tray to get on the counter in case he can't jump from the ground yet. If Dexter wasn't as clever as he is I'd just use the TV tray to hold Sirius' food. I'm honestly not even sure if he can jump onto the TV tray but I have no idea how he couldn't it isn't much higher than the bed or couch. I don't want him to think that he will always get a free ride up on the counter, but I can't let him go hungry if he really can't do it or doesn't think he's allowed. He's just so skinny. The dog got upset when Sirius sniffed his bowl, he immediatly went over after Siruis was done sniffing and licked his(already empty bowl) 'clean.' Dex isn't food agressive or protective of his bowl, even when Nuts once ate out of his bowl he just looked at me like, 'could you please ask the cat to not eat my food?' I think Sirius was fed from the floor in his past life since he seems to check out Dexter's bowl on a regular basis. The dog's bowl gets filled with 1/2 cup of food twice a day and that disappears quickly, Dex never leaves his food lying around, he eats it. He immediatly went back to wolfing down his food and acting less depressed when he saw he had a new cat(I had told him we were trying to find him a new friend.) He still misses Nuts but I think he's less 'lonely' having another cat here. He isn't alllowed to be protective of his bowl(and never has been) anyways since the community water bowl(we also have one on the counter for the cat and another community one in the bathroom) in the living room is right next to his food bowl so he is used to having a cat around his bowl. I have seen Sirius drink from the community bowl in the living room so he is drinking which is comforting and he's using the litter box fine so he is getting enough to eat, even though it seems like he isn't eating much.

He seemed uncomfortable trying to climb onto Paul's recliner from the couch last night with encouragement(Nuts favorite past time using the recliner to get on and off the counter because he knew it annoyed Paul even though he could jump from the ground), don't blame him, he has no way to hold on if he slips or grib so he doesn't slip.

Like I said it almost seems like this is going too good. I also hope he cleans out whatever they were feeding him at the shelter(which was whatever they could get) because his litterbox is making my bathroom smell like an outhouse(and Paul is cleaning it everytime he sees something in it.) I think we'll have to add some Citrus Fresh litter box deodorizer(not much, I forgot to add some before I added litter to the box) the next time the box is scooped. We used it when we changed out the litter on Nuts' box, it was put in the bottom of the box it helped keep the clumps from sticking to the bottom of the box since Nuts(and Attitude) liked to the dig to China, Sirius doesn't seem like much of a digger, digging might not feel good to him since he's missng his toes.

He is such a sweetheart. I think I found the 'perfect' cat.

Taryn

I forgot to add, he snores. I was worried because he was making noises like Attitude did when she was first starting to get her last URI. Keep in mind I've lost 3 cats to URIs(Attitude, Runt and Half-Tail) so I am a little freaky about URIs. Then I noticed he only made it when he was asleep, so he snores. I will have the vet check him out about it to make sure all is ok, but it's so cute.

He is the greatest cat. I mean he's not Attitude but she was a once in a lifetime cat and no one could ever be her. Sirius is his own cat and I don't want, nor would I want him to be like Attitude, Nuts or any other cat.

Taryn