Shadow the Kitten

I adopted Shadow when he was probably several months old. I got him in the Fall of 1997. He was a ferrell kitty and had worms and a respiratory infection. I wasn't sure I was going to take him home when I went to meet him (a friend of my sister's had caught him and rescued him). As soon as I saw him, though, I knew I'd be taking him home. He was skittish, scared of everything including me, and too little for his age.

My first pictures of Shadow got stolen when my camera got stolen in Athens, so this is one of the first I have of him. When I brought him home, I put him in the guest bathroom so he could adjust to me and his new home a little at a time. I let him alone most of the time, but would go in to visit. I never forced him out (he'd hide in the litter box), and remember just sitting in there on the floor eating my dinner while softly talking to him.

He would come out, but stay his distance. I soon figured out he liked the potato chips that came with my Wedgy's sandwhiches. Licking the salt off them, actually. That was the beginning of our friendship. I let him out of the bathroom confinement stage to early, I guess. Because for about a week, I'd come home from teaching Middle School Band and see he'd eaten his food, but then not be able to find him ANYWHERE. It was just a two bedroom apartment!

I started to suspect he was hiding under my dishwasher. He was super tiny- but it was pretty surprising that he might fit under there. My dad suggested I put flour on the flour in front of it and it worked! The next night I came home and still couldn't find him, but I was sure he was under the diswasher because of the little footprints in the flour. That's how he got his name. He was hiding in the Shadows. (-: