Hello!

It's been about three weeks since we've brought Pumpkin and Francis (formerly known as Abe) into our family, and we couldn’t be happier! We had just lost our 14-year-old cat, Benny, to a ruptured, cancerous tumor, and my son asked to find another cat for my daughter...and – maybe one for him. So, Saturday afternoon I took them to Animal Services to see if any cats would select us as their humans. Two male, orange tabby cats with amber eyes caught my children’s attention, and the selection was mutual. Pumpkin for Kristi, and Francis (formerly Abe) for Fred.

Our concern when we came to the shelter was that the cats would get along with each other and our 80+ lbs., Lab/SharPei. After an initial week of establishing the pecking order, the three seem to be settling into loving and caring for each other.

We figured out that Pumpkin is called Pumpkin because he holds his tail across his back like the vine growing from a pumpkin looks before it is cut. The tail seems double-jointed, and is so unique that we didn’t change his name. He has this wonderful chirping-type purr that is so cute, and seems to love curling up on the couch or any available cushy chair. He slept within paws-reach of his human, Kristi, on his first night with us. He is also quite photogenic, and doesn’t seem to mind the camera.

We did change “Abe” to Francis because he seems to love all animals and humans, much like St. Francis – the patron saint of animals. Francis seems to be the leader in our animal family, even though he is small. He seems to be more adventurous and curious, and also likes to curl up in sinks. Francis is the one grooming Pumpkin in the video…Today was actually the first time I saw Pumpkin allow Francis to “kiss” him. Of course, having Francis neutered might have made the difference to Pumpkin because Fran doesn’t have that male-cat odor anymore. ;-)

Thank you for the opportunity to grow our family!
Edith