Rae and her sister Parti (who will be featured in the next cat post) were adopted in December 2013.  Unlike our other cats, they were adopted locally through a small no-kill cat rescue group called Whiskers of Hope, which we connnected with via Petfinder, an excellent site used to connect people with animals who need homes.  Also unlike our other cats, we got them as slightly older kittens, a bit over 5 months old rather than 8-11 weeks.

Deb had been reading about how black cats have a particularly hard time finding homes, which is really sad, and we were determined to adopt two black cats.

In addition to adopting two black cats, on behalf of humans everyone I apologize to Bast for our silliness, as black cats are awesome!   First, check out this glamour pose from January 2013:

Second, black hair is a lot less visible on clothing, furniture, etc. than lighter colors.  Hence how Deb and I can have 6 cats and not look like yeti.

Rae is a very easy-going cat, not interested in being alpha, but very much takes on the role of the supervisor (To learn more about supervisor cats, check out this post from an excellent cat blog!), checking in on the other cats, grooming them, and getting really agitated when the food bowl gets near empty.

I love Rae a lot, and we have many sweet moments, but–perhaps because she spent more formative months in a shelter with lots of cats and not too much human contact–she’s very much a “cat’s cat.”  She’s not afraid of people and we have our uses, but she really enjoys the presence of other felines.  It makes me very happy that she ended up as part of our tribe and not as a lonely only cat!

Rae and Spitfire in my sock crate, 2015. She always looks extra happy when the two of them are together.

Rae also decided early on that Spitfire was her favorite.  Initially he was rather suspicious of Rae and her sister, but he got used to her.  I still suspect that her love for him is only partially requited, though.

The Triumvirate. (Clockwise from top: Rae, Zephyr, Spitfire. Note that Rae is upside down!

Zephyr also likes Spitfire.  During the colder half of the year the three of them often take over the bed during the day.  I call them “The Triumvirate.”