The Shadow Knows

We have three cats, but only two have made an appearance here as yet. That's because the third cat is a classic "fraidy" cat.

His name is Shadow. He is named Shadow because during the first month he lived in our house, he never left his hiding place under the bed. Well, I suppose he wandered around in the dead of night to eat and use the cat box, but no human eye met his during that first month. Looking for an all black cat hiding under the bed, there were times when we were not sure he was still in the house.

There is a line between domesticated and feral, and Shadow travels back and forth. The first time we allowed him out of the house, he disappeared for a week. He had been gone three or four days when a neighbor called and said she had Shadow's collar. She found the collar in her kitchen, just inside her "doggie" door. Her dog, one of those small, yappy, ankle-biters, had chased the cat through the house. The collar apparently snagged on the door and came off as Shadow escaped outside.

We got Shadow and Cardiel from a guy in Galt who rescues cats. The two couldn't be more different. Cardiel is a lap-cat who loves to nuzzle; Shadow only allows hit-and-run contact. When Shadow deems a human "safe," he lunges to make a glancing blow and scampers back out of reach. He repeats this several times, retreating a little less each time until, finally, he is within petting range. Shadow and Cardiel do sometimes display a familiarity that the third cat, Zipper, would never allow.

And sometimes they play like siblings.

But mostly, Shadow is a loner, his fight-or-flight instinct stuck on flight.

Day 22 of 365