To Cary & Joel,she's Shadow, to me she is Cassandra. Either way, NewCat
doesn't answer to her name.

The poor girl was a mess with fleas, burrs and matts. The fleas were easy to
treat, but the matts and burrs have gotten Joel and I some pretty deep
scratches. She spent most of the first two days growling and hisspitting at
everyone. But now the mats & burrs are gone, she is much better tempered.
She must have bee in alot of pain!

Thats not to say she still doens't have a potty mouth - but what do you
expect of a girl who clearly lived by her wits on the streets for a while?

She's an enigma. At some point, she was clearly a spoilt cat. She knows what
a brush is, and rolls over to have her tummy done. She *loves* scritches and
isn't afraid of hands. But will hiss and attack if we go near her tail. She
is is very afraid of thrown things (of course, Cary never throws *anything*
in the hosue, right?) She didn't know what a litterbox was and held it in
for two days (whilst scratching at the doors) before she finally let it
loose on some paper in the hallway. So I moved one of the litterboxes into
the hallway, and put the paper she'd gone into it. She used the box after
that, to much relief. She doesn't much like kibble or gooshy food - she
wants hoomin food. She has started to groom herself again, and is slowly
showing some cat behaviour,but she's not at all interested in any of the cat
toys. She seems to have absolutely no 'chase and pounce' instinct at all.

I don't think she's been spayed, mainly because she kept us awake with a
strange caterwailing I can only assume is her calling to a mate. Its not a
normal meow nor is it the yowl of an unhappy cat. At least that means she's
not pregnant. We're going to have to wait the fortnight, because the parking
fine took the spay money. At least she cant get pregnant here.

She's accepted Pickle as Alpha Cat with only a small amount of hissing, but
now has to work out with Suki whether she's beta cat or gamma cat. This may
take more time, as Suki is not the shiniest spoon in the draw, and it may be
quite some time before Suki realises the order, even though in Pickle and
Shadow's mind, it had been well established. Who knows. So far there's only
been hissing, growling and hte occasional bap, theres been no actual
brawling or fur flying. Her territory is the hall, Suki tends to claim the
dining room and Pickle, well, being Alpha Cat, he has the whole house.

At least she isn't hiding. Whenver Shmogg moved, he hid really well, and I'd
have no idea where he was for 3 or 4 days, but he was born & raised a street
cat (if not feral) and he knew about hiding. Shadow's behaviour really
suggests she as born and raised in a loving and calm household but at some
later point was abandoned and left to fend for herself on the street.

She really is an enigma. But at least she's an enigma that knows we're all a
good source of scritches, and rewards us with a very loud rumbly purr when
we get the sweet spot. I think things will work out fine.

Yowie