Photo Friday: Meet Ally

Today I’m taking a break from the usual gardening stuff to introduce a new member of our family. We adopted Ally on Tuesday, after she made an appearance on local TV station WTVW’s Pet of the Day segment using her stage name Leslie. Her handler said she was a lap kitty and liked to snuggle, and that she was about a year old. She had a great TV presence, staying calm and collected in the studio, and after a brief discussion my wife and I headed across the river to the Henderson County Humane Society to meet her in person. After spending a little time with her and seeing her sweet and loving nature, we decided to bring her home to Happy Acres.

Ally in her new home

Apparently she’s had a busy and fairly stressful life so far. She was taken in as a stray, and had already had a litter of kittens before she was spayed. We took her to our vet Wednesday to have her checked out thoroughly. She seems to be in pretty good health, though she does have worms. That’s not surprising since she has been living in the shelter for 5 months with a bunch of other kitties. We thought the spot on her nose might be a sore from rubbing on a carrier or cage, but the vet decided it is just a freckle. And we knew she was petite, but we were surprised when she weighed in at just over five pounds. No doubt we can put a little more meat on her bones, because it seems everyone who comes to Happy Acres gains weight eventually!

Ally visits the vet

We are keeping her in the guest bathroom until the worms have been taken care of. We don’t want our other cat Puddin to get them, and that does give them ample time to get used to each other with short introductions. Puddin has always been good with other kitties, so we’re not really worried too much about them getting along. But what we didn’t know from the meet and greet is that Ally is also a budding artist. Using only the materials left at hand, on Wednesday night she created this display of TP Art! It’s a little more rustic than my wife’s TP Art, but still an impressive showing for a first effort.

Ally’s TP art

She loves to sleep in the top tier of our cat condo/scratching post. She gets afternoon sunshine through the window, and has been spending a lot of time there – when she’s not creating art, that is! She probably enjoys the peace and quiet after spending five months at the shelter with 20 or 30 other kitties. So far she has been quiet and well behaved, and the only time we have heard her meow is when she was in the carrier in the car. Even then, she was happy when we stuck a hand in to reassure her. She does like to get up on our shoulders to sit, which works okay when she weigh five pounds but might not work as well if she sizes up and gets bigger. She also surprised me by jumping on my back when I bent over to pick up a toy mouse. I am thinking many new adventures are in store for all of us!

Ally in the cat condo

I hope you have enojoyed meeting our new kitty Ally. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres.