Today is the anniversary of Duffy's adoption+birthday. Well, he was actually
adopted on Jan. 31, 2003, but that was late in the afternoon and we headed
directly for TED. So, Feb. 1 was our first full day together, and that is
what I consider his "anniversary." I also arbitrarily set Feb. 1 as Duffy's
birthday since I don't know the actual date. Three vets estimated his age at
the time of adoption as 3-5 years, so I settled on 4 years. So, the magic of
the Duffy Calendar makes him 6 years old today!

Duffy is an incredibly loving cat, and he absolutely adores attention. He
usually starts his quest for attention by coming to my side and tapping my
knees, all the while uttering that cute little "murrup," "murrup" sound. If
I am engrossed in something (usually the computer) and don't notice, he will
*climb* up the back of the chair and step out onto my shoulder. That always
gets my attention - then I bring him down onto my lap, and he will snuggle
up with his hips in my lap and his two little front paws stretched out
toward my neck. He will rub his nose against mine, and the purrs get louder
and more and more happy-sounding. (Yes! I am convinced that there is a
"happy" sound in there.) Duffy is a little gymnast. He loves to climb and
will rapidly move from one pole to another on his cat tree. Visitors have a
hard time believing that he is totally blind because he is so active and
moves around so easily.

Duffy weighed 6 ? pounds when I adopted him, which was too thin. I fed
Innova canned for awhile until he gained some weight, then switched to
Wellness canned. He now weighs just slightly more than 8 pounds, and that
weight has remained completely stable for more than a year. It seems to be
an excellent weight for him. He is small for a male cat but looks larger
because of his fluffy fur, and he is very strong and agile - as shown by his
gymnastics on the cat tree.

I have included three pictures of Duffy as links below my signature. The
first one shows Duffy at the animal shelter (and is the picture that
inspired me to look into adopting him - he looked like a little waif, and I
actually thought from the picture that he was much older than he is). He had
been at the shelter for several months, and I was afraid that he would not
last much longer without adoption because kitten season was approaching (and
space would be limited). Although I thought at the time that I was doing
something "for" Duffy by adopting him, it has turned out that he has brought
more joy into my life than I ever envisioned. He has given at least as much
"to" me as I have given to him. The second picture was taken at my house
about a year after adoption and shows Duffy as he looks today. The third
photo shows Duffy and Holly together on the cat tree.

MaryL

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