Hello from the Midwest USA!

Hi! I'm from the midwest--Chicago, IL and I love cats. I love all animals, actually, but cats are my favorites. I've had dogs before and I loved each and everyone of them, but lately, I've just been loving cats. I just lost my very beautiful pure white cat last March from renal failure. She was only 9 years old. She had been with me through some very difficult times. She died while I wasn't at home. I started going to the local humane society to help me get through the grieving process. I would go once or twice a week to visit and pet the cats up for adoption. There were/are so many. Anyway, I found two pure white cats that I fell in love with. I couldn't decide which one I wanted more. The day before I was to adopt one of them, there was a new resident--a pure black cat--male. And, he was not up for adoption yet. But, I decided to check him out because he was a beauty. Well...guess who I took home??? Yes! He is beautiful! When I can figure out how to do it, I will put up his picture. He is so black that his eyes look like they are glowing! His coat is sleek and shiny. His name was "Lincoln" and I'm not sure if it was after the man or the car! Anyway, I change his name to "Raven" because of his blackness. His fur looks like black sable. He has one small spot, about the size of a large egg, of pure white right over his private area. A friend of mine told me it's because he's a virgin! I don't know about that, but I do know how much I love him. He is so sweet and affectionate! He loves to nuzzle me under my chin, on my cheek, and my hand. He even will sniff my ear and then give me a gentle little bite on it. I just love him so much! He is strictly an indoor kitty. I will not let him outside. There are too many dangers out there. He's not too keen to go out anyway. I'm glad about that.

I was going to buy a pedigree cat (either a Siamese or Bombay) but my younger sister who just adopted a dog in the northeastern U.S. encouraged me to look into adopting. Raven is supposed to be 5 years old, but he sure doesn't act it. He acts like a 1 or 2 year old cat. Apparently he had two other owners--the first died and the other gave him up after only 2 weeks. I guess Raven's little antics probably got on the former owner's nerves. Raven is very, very curious and will stick his nose (literally) into whatever I'm doing--including eating! He LOVES peanut butter. But, he only gets a lick or two as I am careful about his diet.

It's funny but as much as I am attached to Raven now and can truthfully say that I love him, he is not my other cat's replacement. In other words, I still miss her--only not as bad as before. I guess I just realized that cats are very unique in their personalities. Each has their own unique way of interacting. I guess what I enjoy most about Raven is that looking at him, watching his silly antics, and experiencing his love enables me to see the "humanness" of cats. I think we get most of our joy from them because we see ourselves in them.

Anyway, thanks for letting me be a part of this forum.