We began fostering Princess Phoebe from the Ipswich Humane Group on January 14, 2025. We lost our beloved girl Birdie to natural causes in late October 2024 and started our new kitty search in late December. We visited the local shelter during their weekly open house to find a cat I wasn’t allergic to. We thought we’d found a good match with Luca, and fostered him for 2 weeks from late December into early January, but I ended up being too allergic. He was terrified of his own shadow and hid under the bed, bedroom furniture, or behind clothes in our master closet. We finally gated him into the girl cave so he’d at least feel somewhat safe. Even then, he just spent his days in the cabinet:
He was terrified of Darwin, which wasn’t good. We were really hoping to find a cat to play with Darwin. Both our previous cats [General Bonkers & Birdie] were not interested in playing with Darwin – he’s a big boy & plays very rough.
We usually adopt older cats needing a home, but the shelter recommended Phoebe. She was 10 months old and had been returned twice due to issues with PICA (eating things that aren’t food. With Phoebe it was chewing wires and eating fabric off audio speakers). We were hesitant but decided to foster her for a few weeks. We didn’t notice any signs of PICA, she LOVED to knock Darwin on his ass, AND I wasn’t allergic to her, so it was a win! The name Phoebe suits her, so we decided to keep it. We just added Princess in front 🙂 She is a huge ball of energy and is fascinated by our many windows with views of birds, squirrels, mice, chipmunks, and people. Last week we introduced her to the outdoor catio and she’s an addict! The shelter told us Phoebe is half Bombay, which is why her eyes are so amazingly golden and her fur is so soft and shiny:
She is hugely fascinated by the TV when animals are on:
She also loves cuddling and belly rubs:
Darwin enjoys playing with Phoebe but gets overwhelmed by her endless energy. It’s been so wonderful having a cat he actually plays with!!! He started out playing too rough with her, but learned to ease up a bit and now they have a ball chasing each other around, window watching, and attacking each other in play tunnels:
Once he’s had enough he retreats to his cat carrier under the stairs, the one place she can’t bug him:
After I have completed some spring maintenance on the catio, I will have pictures of Phoebe enjoying the sunshine and birds.
Congrats on the new cat! Or should I say congrats to the cat on landing such a good forever home! 🙂
Awww, thanks, Scott! yeah, certainly goes both ways 🙂
Good to hear from you! Princess Phoebe is adorable! It’s so good that Darwin has a friend. We lost our Lacy a year ago, but at the same time, found (through the cat distribution system) a creamsicle male and a tortie female, both a year old. George and Gracie. They keep each other amused and make us laugh every day. The other 5 older cats (10 yrs and up) don’t like George, but he’s a love bug to me!
I hope you and Phoebe have looong, happy lives together!
-D’Arcy
What the hell, I wrote a whole big comment this morning and it’s not here. Meh. Great to hear from you D’Arcy! I think of you and Jessica often. Seems everyone kind of lost their blogging mojos around the same time. Life got busy. Then crazy. Then way crazier than anyone could have imagined!!! Sorry to hear about Lacy, but I’m so glad to hear the cat distribution system dropped 2 in your lap! George and Gracie sound adorable! The cat distribution system has never come my way, probably because it knows I’m allergic to most cats 🙁