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And also, of our second cat, Rakshi, a ferociously brave faded tortoiseshell (she lived through breast cancer and died, quite old, of kidney failure):
Seeing @Marx 's beautiful tortoiseshells makes me miss her again.
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Allow me to introduce you to my partner and I’s cats (in that order!)
Karma is a grey and white domestic shorthair. Her fur is just about the softed I’ve ever encountered in a cat; it is truly reminiscent of rabbit fur.
My partner adopted her from a friend- a friend who at the time was her roommate but spending 99% of her time at a boyfriend’s house, and as such was never home to feed, cuddle or otherwise care for Karma. Her friend had chosen the name Karma (for whatever reason). This adoption occurred sometime around 2007 (I’m sure my partner could give me a certain month and year, but it’s not really important). At the time of adoption, my partner suspected Karma was about 2-3 years old. She also goes by “Princess” and “Baby”.
Dharma is a black and white domestic shorthair. She’s trimmed down quite a bit over the last couple of years (since we switched to 100% canned-food from dry-food (only Karma needed to switch due to some kidney problems, but Dharma benefited from it just the same)); she has unusually short legs (but only just) and is otherwise average size; she’s basically the corgi of cats. She also goes by “Sweetie” and “Sweetheart”
My mother has a problem: she feeds stray cats. Dharma was a stray cat that showed up around my mom’s house sometime during the summer of 2007 and was sneaking into my mom’s garage during the hot summer days to cool off. My mom named her Dharma because she was very quirky, usually looking at you with her head tilted to one side, or turned her body away from you and looking at you with her head turned all the way round – it reminded my mom of the quirkiness of the titular character Dharma from the show Dharma and Greg. At the time, Dharma was very little and my mom worried she wouldn’t make it through the winter on her own (and was unable to take her in due to already having 3 cats). I asked my roommates if we could adopt her and a couple of days later, she joined me and two other bachelors in our house.
So, yes, we have 2 cats with extremely similar names; each named by somebody else. Around the time we first met (at a party my friends and I were hosting at our bachelor pad), my partner realized the similarity of our cats’ names – only years later when we began dating did I realize she had a cat named Karma who is very shy and never came out when strangers were in the house – this is still the case; we’ve had our friends/neighbors look after our cats several times and only in the last year (when we were in the hospital welcoming our youngest child into the world almost a year ago) did our neighbor actually get to meet Karma, though she had been occasionally sent to feed/water her several times over the years when we were out of town.
Here they are together (pretending they can’t stand each other) “hunting” for small mammals and birds from the safety of the screened-in porch:
They are both closer to 20 than 15 now, by our estimations, but we don’t know their exact ages. We think Karma is a yearish older. I feel bad for them; they used to get all the cuddles they could want, but with a 2.5 year old and a 11 mo around, they don’t get nearly as much – and some of the attention they get is inadvertently-violent and grabby.
There are towels on our couch because our toddler is currently potty-training.
Please excuse the mess. There is clutter in our house because we desperately need to move and we have too much stuff (and somebody keeps buying more boardgames!)
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More gratuitous cats pics. These are the ones that have shared my life and home, however briefly, before moving on.
First up are my two first ever feline flatmates: Frank (brown and white) and Smudgling (black and white). Frank was clearly abandoned in my best friends garden and already domesticated; so loving and friendly that, once I moved into a new flat a few weeks after he appeared, I took him home with me. He was discovered to have serious kidney problems about a year after he was with me and sadly died after about 21 months, but was an angel throughout and the perfect starter cat for me, having never had cats before. Smudgling was the last of a big litter in the garden and came in to give Frank some company; she was a bundle of energy and fun but sadly fell badly and quickly ill with panleukopenia after a couple of months with me and passed away. So much love for and from them both.
Next up is Eddie - another young ball of life, energy and fun, brought in from a litter due to an eye problem. It didn’t stop him being curious and ever-playful, and such a sweetheart. He’s the brother of one of my current cats Sal (Sally).
Eddie was with me for about a year before he was adopted by another home, along with Bruce Junior (below). Bruce was living happily in my friend’s garden until suddenly one day she became really wobbly and unsteady when walking. The vets couldnt find anything obviously wrong but clearly she couldnt stay outside, and once settled, she and Eddie became great friends so was were happily adopted together.
Next are Sansa and Arya: sisters from another friend’s garden who couldnt keep them as their dog didnt like cats. Aptly named as they often squabbled, with the smaller Arya being more playful and often the instigator, and the larger Sansa being more reserved and aloof. They were only with me for a few months before being adopted together happily.
And last up is Donnie - another lively one who came in from another failed adopted home, where he was the only cat and started becoming destructive, but being around other cats helped him settle and focus his energy into playfulness. He was successively readopted to another home early this year.
I could go on with other cats who live or have lived with my best friend, or the other treasures who live in her garden still - often 20-30 of them at any time - but this will do for now. I did omit a photo of one of my adopted and rehomed cats: poor Jessie was a happy outdoor cat until a car accident left her blind. Being unable to live outside she came in to live with me during her recceovery and learnt quickly to adapt to her circumstances, and within a few months she was also rehomed - and now lives happy with another family of cats on a big and safe finca along with another blind cat too. My pics of her aren’t easy viewing although she is doing really well still.
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Who’s a pretty boy, den?
Well, someone had to, And now you can relax because someone has.
A fine bird, that.
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Here are the other three fuzzballs we share our home with 
Also, one more of the pup for good measure, after she pulled the cover off of her crate and realized she had no one to blame but herself.
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Our current landlord is Nico. A grumpy rescue cat who only likes to be patted under her terms. Gotta respect that.
She is enjoying my home working at the moment though.
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I love to see a cat and a mouse living in harmony.
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A very contented and secure cat, going by the photo. Grumpiness as a default state? Yeah, that happens ;- )
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Percy would be a terror at your local caber toss competition!
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The dreaded Black Hound of Daylesford! He would dance a twirly dance in front of the throwers during their run-up, and “fetch” the cabers before the stewards could measure the angles of their lie.
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