New Boy in Town

So there's been an addition to the BCC the last week and a half. E. & J. were walking by the river one night and came across a stray cat who was very friendly. After petting him for a minute or two he promptly followed them the mile and a half down the bike path back to our house. Like a dog. Also, he's a black cat -- when we added together the black cat following them back to the Black Cat Commune, it was kind of a done deal. Our new boy is named Pan, originally meant to be short for the Italian for panther (Italian to go with Paola) -- pantera. Also because he's very metal. Also because he totally looks like a panther. Then we realized that he looks a lot like a feline version of Pan from Pan's Labyrinth (so...good...so...sad...so...pretty) with the flattened nose and large face. Then we realized that Pan lends itself well to numerous overly cutesy food nicknames such as Panini, Panettone, Pancake, etc. Also it is the nickname of the daemon in the excellent Golden Compass series of books -- read them if you haven't yet -- by Philip Pullman: Pantalaimon. Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I figure out my camera and manage to upload them (it's taken me this long to blog about it, so I finally gave up today when I didn't bring the right cord. I suck at technology).

Initially there was a comedy of errors for several days in which we were all convinced (based on E.'s brothers' detailed inspection) that he was an unfixed kitty. Therefore, as per a phone call to our local animal rights activist cat shelter/catnapping enablers, we really needed to keep him for ourselves because his previous owners were bad non-neutering people. Then J. took him to the vet to discover that he in fact IS fixed, and is five years old, and just happens to be very well-endowed. Apparently "swelling can occur." So we posted things on craigslist and in lost animals books at vet clinics, but we're hoping no one calls. The shelter folks also said that sadly, down by the river is a prime pet-dumping location. He definitely was someone's pet at one point -- he's litter-trained and he purrs the second you touch him, he's very people-friendly. But legally, possession inheres in an animal after 24 hours! I just really hope there's no little kid out there crying their eyes out over him. If there is, they should be looking for him though, and no one seems to be.

So, as the catnapping fiends we are, we're really hoping that it was a pet dump, as awful as that is, and that no one tracks him down, because we're all in love now, and even Paola seems willing to limit hissy fits to one a day, while otherwise coexisting peaceably. I think it helps that they both fit into neatly proscribed cat gender boxes -- he makes her look dainty and feminine because he is very big and very boy-looking. Not really a competition. Jake is enjoying having another boy in the house, at long last. I am plotting the doubled adorability of dressing up two black kitties for holiday photos. I am such an old lady.