Then

I adopted Esther from a shelter Summer of 2008. She had been a dumped cat and came to the shelter pregnant. She had her kittens (most of them have been adopted now!) and the day she was going in to get spayed, two orphaned kittens were brought to the vet. She nursed these kittens for a few weeks and was spayed shortly after they were weened. Two weeks later, I brought her home to live with me.

These are all photos I took within a week of bringing her home. She was so skinny when she came to live with me, but has since regained some weight (I assume she was bigger before she was a mom!) and is now very normal and healthy.

When I first opened the cardboard cat crate, Esther peeked out her head and zipped under the bathtub and stayed there for at least 3 hours. I would talk to her and she'd creep over to my side and let me scratch her chin, but was weary of exploring her new home.

When she did emerge, she seemed to get comfortable very quickly. She nibbled on some food and sat with me on the couch or explore other hiding places.


My grandmother sent her some cat toys a week or so after I got her. Until that point, she played with foam soccer balls that she would bat around and chase and carry in her mouth. I hadn't given her any catnip until my grandmother sent a toy, cloth bag. When I tossed it to her, she flopped over with it clutched in her paws and rubbed, bit, and kicked at it and started DROOLING. She doesn't drool anymore, but that first day she drooled so much that the bag of catnip and sides of her head were absolutely soaked.

Her current favorite toy is a puffball that hangs from a stand at the top of the front door. She will play with it for hours, stalking and leaping at it. It used to have feathers on, but Esther generally gnaws them off within the first 3 days of having a new one. She's currently on her second door-puff.