What happened next? Who's Boris? The suspense is killing you, right? All of the Leaf family cats have Russian names. (Dogs, too). Jack Sprat wasn't going to work. My husband tried out several names in rapid succession, but as I had said at the shelter "He is a Boris". Well, he will be when he grows into his paws.

It's true. Boris is the name that stuck.

Boris came home June 16th, 2010. He is almost 6 months old. He is on Lycozene (sp?) for the sneezing, and is an orange marmelade tabby. He has ginormous paws. Be afraid.

The other residents of our commune, 3 cats and one dog, were singularly unimpressed. We kept Boris out on the porch for a while. Introducing new pets to a current household is always tricky. We have a lot of experience, and it just takes time. Our cats are very social and love people and each other (Sophie the dog, not so much).

I should say that Sophie is a German Spitz. She weighs 11 pounds. She was raised by the cats, and loves them all. Her "Pack" doesn't always agree with her doggest points of view. Sophie has put the cats into a basic pack order. When they commit a crime, such as a counter incursion, she runs out to us, barking frantically to alert us to the misdemeanor in progress. She was the first to reach out to the newcomer, and decided he was OK. Boris, not so sure continued to bounce around off ground level.

A word about bringing home a shelter cat who has been confined for a while? So amazing. He couldn't quite jump gracefully as he was unused to that motion. Our porch has big huge windows with wide sills for cat-napping. Most windows face the "cat TV" (our bird feeder). All of our cats live indoors exclusively. Watching Boris explore, Jump, play, look out the windows was so beautiful. He would pause briefly to run back to one of us, cuddle, purr and move on. We introduced the other inmates one at a time, Sophie first, then Leo.

An introduction to Leo: He is so not smart, we refer to him as "pre-tarded". His favorite activity? Cuddling, or chasing his "sparklies", the rainbows cast around the room by crystals hanging from the window. He sniffed, hissed a bit, sighed, and curled up on Dad's lap. Two down.

Katya. Ah, Katya. She, the black sleek beauty. She the baby, formerly the center of attention. Katya is the smartest cat we have ever had. She is two, and came from the Humane society. She does not like anyone to cut down on her attention, and she LOVES us. Her family, her dog. She cuddles, cries for attention, and seeks us out. She mimics motions, like a head cock to the side. She figures things out, you can see her thinking...

She was not PLEASED. But 2 days later, Boris and Katya are co-existing, in this picture, they are playing. I think Katya will be happy to have a playmate she can boss around...