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| Name: |
Cindy
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Age: |
Two years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Tabby, tortoiseshell mix
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| Home: |
Medford, Massachusetts, USA |
Cindy
joined our household at the age of six months, a few months after
the Melrose Humane Society rescued her from a dumpster. Her full name is
Cinderella, which she earned by living with a large orange male tabby
dumpster-mate named Pumpkin.
When we visited her foster home, Cindy came out, rolled around on my
wife's lap, chased a string I pulled, and then parked herself
photogenically under the host's Christmas tree. It was an amazing feat
for a cat that, we later learned, was very shy. Obviously, she had
chosen us.
When she came home with us, we installed her in a small bathroom and
watched in horror as she hid behind the toilet and quaked in fear for
three days. She slowly started responding to gentle visits and, on the
third day, ventured beyond the bathroom - keeping her belly very close
to the ground to (I guess) avoid capture.
Cindy had a lot to teach us - especially after our 18 years with a
gregarious female tabby who loved everyone. It took many months of
careful trust-building for us to finally discover the true Cindy: an
affectionate, playful goofball.
Cindy likes to hang out with us. She doesn't like a lot of close
contact, but loves to stretch out on my wife's lap. Her play energy is
astonishing: batting her toys around the house, attacking the ball in
her Cat Track, running up and down the stairs. In one of her favorite
games, she crouches in the hallway and leaps up at toys I throw over her
head; she runs and hides behind the furniture when I walk over to
retrieve the toys, then reemerges and resumes her crouch.
Cindy is also water-crazy. She loves the sight and sound of running
water, and could spend all day watching the toilet flush. She
particularly enjoys splashing water out of her dish, and we've had to
rig up a water dispenser inside a small tub to keep her watered and the
kitchen floor dry. We also have to wring out her favorite toys - the
ones she drops into the water - every morning.
She's still a shy girl... the sound of the doorbell sends her into
hiding until our visitors leave. Unfamiliar sounds also send her ducking
for cover. Even on a normal, quiet day, she usually spends a few hours
hiding under the bed. But she's come a long way since those first
terrified days, and we've come a long way in learning to appreciate the
charms of a shy cat. No doubt about it - our house is the best dumpster
she's ever lived in.
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