Who would have thought?

I have never been a cat person. I have not be much of an animal person at all. I would never intentionally harm or hurt an animal but didn't feel the need for one and certainly not several in my life.

When we moved into our present home, it came with two cats. Domino and Fluffy. They were outside, country cats. (my kind of pets)
Domino was a black and white short haired cat. She was friendly and liked to be where you were. She was an explorer and went off on her own alot.
Fluffy is long haired (hence the name) and blue eyed. She is our stay close to home gal. After having her for awhile we discovered her breed. She is half ragdoll. She definitely fits the characteristics of the ragdoll. She is very affectionate, extreme talkative for a cat and a sprawler. She does the most unladylike poses while sunning on the front porch.
Both would leave us signs of their prowness as hunters by leaving mice, moles, and various body parts of unknown critters on the porch. You learn to not step out onto the porch bare footed.

You guessed it. We grew very attached and they very much became OUR cats. We dreaded the day when for whatever reason we would lose one.
And as we knew it would, that day came and we lost Domino.
We discussed getting another cat but it was winter and not a good time to acquire an outside cat. So we waited.

Recently, I saw an ad for a rescue cat. She had been abandoned and found by a woman who couldn't keep her and was trying to find a home in a country setting. So we took her, named her Whiskers and gave it a try but found her to be very wary of people and when it came time to release her from the cage after her transition time, she left and never came back.

We only had her for two weeks and even though she was not an affectionate cat, we had already begun to grow fond of her and were disappointed when she wasn't able to bond with us.

So we discussed it and decided to try again. We decided to look for a cat that had already bonded with people. I found several but they were always in pairs. We decided to go ahead and take two.
So, now we have two new younger cats. One is grey and black stripped with white feet. My husband named her Boots. The other is solid black with vivid yellow eyes that I call Topaz.
They are very friendly, let you hold and pet them. They have already passed the test of four very interested grandchildren.

So now we now have 3 cats. My husband laughs and says that Whiskers will come back and we will end up with 4 cats. Who knows.

For now, we are working on getting our resident cat Fluffy to adjust to two newcomers. So far she and Boots are not buying it. ( such rude behavior for two pretty ladies) We are only into the first two days of introduction so hopefully there is time for attitude adjustment.

So this previous non cat person is going online and reading up on introducing new cats.
I spend time on the porch talking to all three cats (the two newcomers are caged for the transition period of two weeks) I pet each one and feed them treats to help them associate each other and their new surroundings with good food and pleasant association. I take items that each of them have slept on and trade them so they will get used to each others scent.

So we will see how it goes. In the country, it is survival of the fittest and pets are no exception.

We will give it our best shot and Boots and Topaz will have to take care of the rest.

I love living in the country and actually love our country cats. Who would have thought?