I just wanted to make a follow-up report of the cat that I adopted.  You called him Sam.  He is an adult cat, neutered and de-clawed.  He weighs nearly 20 pounds.  He is a DSH silver tabby.

Well, we are becoming best of friends.  It has been slow going.  He is slowly being healed of a tendency to biting.  He got me REALLY good several times.  But now he realizes that there is no reason to bite that he is really loved and he is now stopping himself.  I'm proud of him.  He sometimes makes a move to bite, but he will stop.

I am learning him much better too.  He gives me warnings now which he didn't at first.  Now he will get a bit vocal and the tail begins to switch.  This is my clue to "back off".

He loves to be brushed and even rolls over exposing his tummy to me now.  I know better than to touch it of course.  But I think it shows his comfort and trust level.  About once a day also, I am finally able to hold him...and we have a very short 30 second "tuddle-up".  Actually depending on his mood, we can have as many as 3 "tuddle-ups" in a day.  But he is not the really cuddly type.  But it's okay.  We give each other our space.

I renamed him Shiv'ah Shemuel Johns.  Well Johns is "our" last name.  Shiv'ah is the number 7 in Hebrew and stands for a perfect number.  I made Shemuel the middle name because that is Samuel in Hebrew. 

Shiv'ah is very sedate and regal.  But he likes a few of the toys I have gotten him and also, one of his favorite past-times is being a lion in his paper jungle.  I put out brown packing paper that is crinkled and stacked up and he dives in and loves the sound of the crackling paper.

He is a dear companion and a great watch cat.  He is very protective of me.  If he hears someone in the hallway of our apartment or at the door, he very often growls.  If there is a loud noise, he will try to place himself between me and the source of the noise.  If anyone enters the apartment, he will jump up on my recliner chair as if to say, "This is Bubby's chair!  You had better have no thoughts about sitting in it!!"  Otherwise he will never get in my chair.

I could go on and on.  But I want you to know just how perfect Sam, (Shiv'ah) is for me and how much he is loved.  I'm so glad he was available to me.

Barbi Johns