Slipper got his name because of the way he slipped into our life. It was so easy, so surprising. He just followed Nik home one day on foot from the Maisonettes, when we still lived next door to them. He quickly made friends with Hamlet.
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| A then very young Slipper is watching us trap Hamlet |
Little Slipper made friends with all the cats who came to eat outside our house.
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| Slipper pictured here in the center with friends Hamlet, left, Amber, right, and in the background, Jazzy |
Slipper hung around outside, making himself at home in the garden, but slipping around the house every time I tried to get close to him. He was a cat on a banana peel.
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| Slipper would slip around the house when I tried to get close to him |
He started jumping up onto the window sills and curiously looking inside our house. At the time it was a million degrees hot out and we had the windows and sliding glass doors open 24/7 with the screens closed. It was in this manner he got to know every cat in the house. They simply accepted him as one of them. They never protested his presence. He was clever and smooth this way, like a vanilla shake.
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| Slipper would sit on the window sills and look through the screens at us |
He was still very young then, mostly a kitten. At the time I still thought he was a she. That happens a lot. But when I took the following picture, it greatly clarified things for me:
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| Oh, dear, she is a he |
But let's backtrack a little. Where, specifically, did Slipper come from? Besides the Maisonettes, I mean?
Well, we think we can trace him back to Morris and Bullet:
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| Morris, left, and Bullet, right |
Morris and Bullet also came from the Maisonettes, but nearly a year earlier. Morris and Bullet were the best of young chums.
We picked them both up at the same time to take in for alteration. Morris was then altered, but the vets told us they discovered, upon examination, that Bullet had already been altered, that they could see her scar. So both were returned to us, one altered and one apparently previously altered, and they were both so friendly, they overnighted with us.
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| Morris and Bullet overnighted with us |
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| Bullet on the bed |
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| Morris and Bullet |
We considered keeping them. But learning that Bullet was already altered made us wonder, "Was Bullet someone's pet?" That was our concern, and since we didn't want to keep Morris and have Bullet to be without her buddy, we returned both of them to the Maisonettes.
It was soon after that we one morning discovered Morris had been visciously bitten by another cat. He was limping terribly. Morris had to go back to the vet for treatment and antibiotics for his infected paw. This meant he had to stay with us after he was released so we could administer the course of his antibiotics. So we fixed him up with his medicine and after about ten days returned him to the Maisonettes. After that Morris wasn't too keen on other adult cats.
Then both Morris and Bullet started to follow us home at night from the Maisonette feedings. At first they followed us halfway. Then a little farther, and a little farther, until they finally made it all the way to our garden. They were both still very young then, not quite adults, so when they came face to face with the adult cats outside our house, they had some second thoughts. Morris would scream bloody murder if the adult cats bullied him, well, actually, even if they looked at him, and yet he chose to stay and scream when he had to. Bullet just ran away, back to the Maisonettes, and went back to following us only halfway back each night.
Fast forward a few months, and Morris had become a permanent resident outside our house. He started sleeping in my car, and when Mandy arrived, she became his new bestest friend:
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| Morris slept in my car |
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| Morris and his new BFF, Mandy |
We still saw Bullet at the Maisonettes, and we had identified the house she apparently belonged to. There was food outside on their veranda, and a little cat bed. That warmed my heart. But there were also some new kittens there, and at least one looked like her. This is the kitten that followed Nik home one night and decided to move into our garden. This was Slipper.
Was Slipper Bullet's kitten? Was Bullet not spayed afterall? Or was she spayed, but incompletely, which I have heard of happening here? We don't know.
What we do know is Slipper chose us and slipped around our house for a couple of months getting to know not only all our cats through the screened windows and sliding glass doors, but our dog, Muji, too. He then slipped right through the front door one day, and took up residence on the sofa, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
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| Our dog, Muji |
Slipper loves other cats, he loves family. He is no longer wild and loves attention. He goes in and out as he chooses. I have never seen him be ugly to another cat ever. He is an amazing, gently tempered cat.
And now you know how he got his name.
Here is Slipper when we took him in for alteration:
Here is Slipper now, pretty much all grown and absolutely precious:
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| Slipper over Cyprus |
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| Slipper on my slippers! |
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| Slipper the sweet tabby! |
PS If you want to see what cats we have altered in close to real time, please go to our facebook page, Altered Cats! Cyprus, where I post each one on our timeline as a Milestone. And if you like us, please "Like" us and tell your friends about us. Thank you!
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