Tag: tortoiseshell cat

Shortly after we adopted Trixie, I went to check on her before leaving for work and saw that she was tucked in under the blankets with her head on the pillow. I assumed my wife had done it before she left and grabbed my camera as I thought it made a cute picture, but it turns out Trixie did it all on her own.

Her confidence has grown by leaps and bounds since then so we started introducing her to the other pets this weekend. We started with our dog Ellie and that went well for the most part, but Ellie did snap her jaws at times if Trixie got close to her mouth, we’ll have to keep an eye on that. Our cat Sam is still a little unsure of his new sister but he did ask repeatedly to come into her room to meet her, the biggest problem is that Trixie introduces herself as “HEY SAM I’M TRIXIE LET’S PLAY PLAY PLAY!!!!!!”, while Sam would prefer some gentle nose-sniffing and a snuggle. Nevertheless Sam is coming around a little quicker than I expected.

Boo will be the hardest, we brought him in and he just sat in the corner and hissed and moaned. On the other hand, he sniffed Trixie when she was in the cat carrier today and didn’t seem upset, so perhaps that’s some progress. He still seems out of sorts, our sensitive little Boo, but he is still playful and above all, is eating normally.

Which is not true for little Trixie and that’s why she was in the cat carrier after an unexpected vet visit. She’s been throwing up and not eating much, although seemingly fine otherwise, so my wife took her in today. It’s unlikely to be anything alarming, probably just that her young stomach is adjusting to a change in her food plus the stress of her new life, but given what we’ve been through the past few months, it’s distressing just the same.

If she’s eating by tomorrow we’ll keep her on anti-nausea meds until she’s back to normal, but if not she’ll have to go in for more tests. These last few months have left me emotionally exhausted and I tend to fall asleep early on my couch every night, hopefully things will return to normal soon. I’d like a week where everyone is eating and no one is throwing up. We’ve been cat owners for over twenty years so it’s not like we’re new at this, but we haven’t had a run of illnesses like this before.

Thankfully Ellie has been healthy despite her advancing age, although even she gave us pause when a routine test suggested she had an infection. Thankfully a follow-up test showed she was fine and the first test was a false positive.

Our kitten has a name.

Tuesday night and throughout the day Wednesday, I made a list of every name I could think of for the newest member of our family, but none of the names felt right to both my wife and I. Thursday morning she sent me an email containing just one word: Trixie. It quickly became my frontrunner and within a couple of hours we both felt we had found her name.

She was thinking of girl detective Trixie Belden, but my first thought was of my favorite TV show from my childhood: Speed Racer. The adventures of young Speed, his girlfriend Trixie, his car the Mach 5, and the mysterious Racer X captured my imagination like nothing else until Star Wars (my wife nixed Leia early in the naming process). The revelation that Racer X, who was always looking out for Speed even at his own expense, was actually his older brother Rex was only eclipsed in my young life when the secret identity of Darth Vader was revealed.

I haven’t seen the show since those early days but from my memory not only was Trixie strong and independent, but the show to its credit didn’t diminish her as a woman for not being afraid to show that strength. I don’t know if I’m remembering her portrayal correctly but it’s why the name struck a chord with me. Our little Trixie was incredibly shy in her first day and mostly just wanted to hide under the dresser, but then rapidly started to conquer her fear and her playful, snuggly side emerged.

Trixie the young detective had blonde hair, while my hero Trixie was a brunette, so that too seems fitting given that our tortoiseshell kitten is a beautiful mix of both.

Welcome to our home, young Trixie, may you have a wonderful life.

We haven’t settled on a name yet but I took a quick photo of our newest family member yesterday afternoon. I was helping out with some training for work not far from home, and had a break in the middle of the day, so I came home and kept her company. She’s still very nervous so I didn’t want to stress her with too many pictures, this is shortly before she cuddled up beside me and settled into a long nap.

We don’t know much about her history, she’s about four or five months old and was rescued in southeastern Oregon by Harney County Save a Stray before being transferred all the way to Portland. I don’t know if she was a stray or if she had a home but someone could no longer care for her. Her first medical record is from New Year’s Day, so if she was on the streets I’m very thankful someone took her in, there was a cold snap and that day Burns, Oregon had a high of 18° and a low of -6°.

We’re keeping her in isolation in the guest bedroom for at least a week, but we’ll give her as much time as she needs. Now, little one, we just need to settle on your name.

Sam has been doing well for several days now so we decided to take a chance and adopt this shy little kitten from the Oregon Humane Society. She’ll be in isolation in the guest bedroom for at least a week. My wife will spend the night with her while I stay with Sam, Boo, and Ellie. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Sam especially to make sure he doesn’t regress.

We haven’t decided on a name for her just yet but I can’t wait to get to know her. My wife met her first when she got off work and she curled up in her lap so I left work a little early to make sure I could meet her before they closed. She cuddled up in my arms and put her head across my arm like she was about to fall asleep.

She’s hiding under the bed at the moment, we’ll give her the time she needs to adjust. She’s home now, she’ll understand that soon enough.