Right now, we "only" have three cats and one dog. I say only because we've had as many as six cats before, not including also fostering kittens. I grew up as an only child with lots of different types of animals as pets for company. I loved learning about what each of them needed and their care was my responsibility.
We’re in sort of a phase of starting over with animals because we’ve had our oldest ones pass away in the past five years, plus a couple of unavoidable early deaths due to genetics—so everyone is very young. (All my future cats will get DNA tests at a young age now.) I’m the type that needs at least a couple of cats for company and emotional regulation. They usually end up making me their favorite human, anyway! I enjoy the lengthy process of slowly gaining a cat’s trust and I bond with each one. All of my cats can be called from across the house, if they’re not already in the same room with me, and they respond to their names and listen to basic commands.
I’m also living with my first dog that is mine and not someone else’s. I would still not describe myself as a dog person. Granted, she’s a breed that is known for having cat-like traits, so she’s not difficult to live with, but she does have different needs. With cats, you can leave them be for longer periods of time, and you can’t with a dog, so that’s taken some adjustment. She really is like having a second child in the house.
When I was younger, I got along with my grandmother’s dogs very well, and even “cured” one of some intense anxiety around people. I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian or work with animals for a long time, but I was discouraged from doing so—and I’m glad because I would have burnt out with a ton of school debt to pay off. Vets have one of the highest suicide rates among professionals!
Penny's nickname has two parts: the first and last syllable of her name, ペ(peh) and ニ(knee), and since she's a black cat, she's considered lucky in some parts of the world. She's a lucky penny! Before her eyes settled on gold, they also had an orange, coppery tint to them for a few months. Her signature color is lavender, because that's also my daughter's.
When we adopted Penny, I was trying to avoid getting another black cat—I was actually trying to adopt a fluffy orange boy kitten that was found dumped in my neighborhood with his siblings, as a first birthday gift for my daughter. The kitten I liked already had someone claim him, so I was referred to a small rescue that is run by a local vet. Because she's a vet, she specializes in the tougher rescue cases, such as kittens needing amputations or singleton kittens found on the street, etc. My assumption is Penny was a street kitten that was taken to Animal Control. When we saw the kittens she had available, Penny was the only one to let my daughter pet her. But that didn't last because Penny avoids her now... I love having a living Halloween decoration!
Characteristics:
DNA Results:
Characteristics:
DNA Results:
Juniper was born during that week of limbo between Christmas and New Years Day, and his personality reflects that. He has no sense of time and is full of silliness—he does whatever he wants. His name comes from the auspiscious winter plant, but it also borrows the "per" from Penny's full name—they are definitely opposites and don't get along sometimes. He is deeply bonded to E.T. and since they are so close in age, they probably feel like brothers. Juniper's signature color is yellow, or gold.
We decided to start fostering cats in 2024 and Juniper was part of an "oops" litter that was born at another volunteer's house. I saw his picture online and knew I needed him, even though I hadn't met him. Because he was "free", that meant we had to do all of the vet visits and neutering ourselves. (Usually those are taken care of by a rescue, if you rescue a cat from an organization.) But I'd done that before, so I knew what it'd be like. It costs a lot more!
E.T. is a foster fail! He was a part of the "Aries Solar Eclipse" all-boys litter, with Helios, Eclipse, his twin Penumbra, and himself. They were born during the last solar eclipse visible in my area. We picked them up on Mother's Day when they were a month old. I was getting attached to the twins, but I couldn't decide which one I liked more. Penumbra would yell at me, so I favored him, but they were so similar. When they were neutered, the twins' kidneys started to fail a day or so after bringing them home. We were not able to save Penumbra, but E.T. spent about a week at the vet on fluids. E.T. had also become very attached to Juniper, so I felt like we had to keep him. His brother Eclipse was adopted very quickly, but we fostered Helios for almost a year.
His foster name was "Umbra", which I expanded into "Umbriel" after he got sick and had his near-death experience. And, related to nearly dying, we call him E.T. since he is a little grey man after all. He has a wisdom about him that I think comes from nearly dying. He is not afraid of anything and is very chill. E.T.'s signature color is silver, or grey.
Characteristics:
DNA Results:
Characteristics:
Breed Standard?:
I had always eventually wanted a Shiba Inu after meeting my first ones face-to-face when in Japan. Also, we will always have multiple cats, so we needed a breed that would be closest enough to a cat. I love how she's mostly quiet and doesn't often smell like dog. I don't mind the shedding because I'm used to cats! She's small enough to pick up and take on adventures across the city.
She was known as "puppy grey" by the breeder, who put a grey temporary collar on her when she was born. But by the time it came to choose between her and her sister, she was often photographed with a teal lead. She doesn't really have a signature color that has stuck, but teal looks good with her fur!
Her name is Japan-inspired, but not in the way many Shibas are named "Tofu" or "Yuki"—she's named after two Japanese rock songs: zephyr and Kuso breakin' Nou breakin' Lily. Combined together, they are also a real-life flower called the "zephyrlily" or "rain lily". It rained non-stop around when she was born.
