I currently have 2 cats. One is a brown-and-white tabby female named "Arti", and the other is a brown tabby male named "Sydney".

Arti

Arti is actually short for Artemisia Gentileschi, who was an Italian painter from the Baroque era. She had a pretty rough life, but made no excuses released her emotional pain into her paintings. Arti the cat also had a pretty rough life at first: She was abandoned by her previous owners during the very cold winter in 2012.

One of the other Sheridan profs, Anna, found Arti crawling up into the soffits of her garage, trying to get warm. She made Arti a warm box to sleep in, and placed the box in the enclosed porch. She fed Arti, along with other strays in the neighbourhood. Whenever any of the family members opened their front door, Arti tried to get inside. She was very upset about being outside and alone: she wanted to be inside with a family where she could snuggle on laps and play with toys. During a meeting, Anna was telling me about this sad kitty that was lost and desperately wanted to get inside her house. I had been catless for a few years after losing my last two to old age and illness, and decided I was ready for a new cat family. Anna brought Arti to my place, and within a few hours Arti had made herself at home. She is now the boss!

Sydney

In the summer of 2013, I decided to get Arti a friend. My friend Anna had mentioned a few other stray cats in the neighbourhood, particularly a pretty black female that looked about Arti's age. She said she would get a trap from the city and try to catch this cat so I could adopt her as a buddy for Arti. However, things don't always go as planned! Inevitably, Anna captured the wrong cat: A feral male that had been in and out of the neighbourhood for a couple of years. He was very skittish and his ears were tattered from past scuffles with other animals. Anna sent me a picture of him, and his sad face just broke my heart: I had to have him!

First we had to take Sydney to the local shelter: by this time Arti had all her shots and I couldn't bring another stray into the house without and risk having him pass any diseases to Arti. We needed to quarantine Sydney while he had his shots and a check-up. However, the shelter wanted us to surrender Sydney first, and then after a waiting period during which time they'd decide if he was adoptable or not, we could adopt him ourselves. This seemed silly, but we couldn't find a vet who was willing to quarantine Sydney, no matter how much money we offered. This was our only option.

After a few days, the shelter called and said they were going to put Sydney to sleep. He was aggressive and mean, he would go to the bathroom right in his bedding if you got too close to him: he was not adoptable. We were very upset, and no amount of persuasion would change their minds. We lost Sydney :(

Sydney must have used one of his 9 lives, because a few days later, the shelter called and asked us if we were coming to pick up Sydney. What?! We thought he had been euthanized! Nope! Apparently someone felt bad for Sydney and figured that if we were willing to take him, he deserved a chance. So Anna went immediately and picked him up, took him to a vet for shots, and then brought him home to me and Arti a few days later.

Sydney was not mean at all. He was scared. He was stuck in a trap, then taken to a shelter and put in a cage where he had to listen to the echos of other sad, scared animals, then he was taken to a vet for needles and other uncomfortable, scary things. Have you ever heard someone say "I was so scared I almost ***'d myself!" Well, when people get very scared, sometimes that really does happen, and guess what? It happens with animals, too. It wasn't that Sydney had no control over his bodily functions, he was just super scared!

For the first few weeks he stayed quarantined in the bathroom in a little box-cave I had made for him with old towels. He felt most comfortable hiding away, burying his face in the towels. At night after I was asleep he would come out and play with toys I'd left him and eat some food. Whenever I came in, he would hide his face in his blankets. It took quite a few months for Sydney to warm up to his new home and his new family, but eventually he went from a hissing, scared kitty to a playful ball of fur that loved to be pet. He eventually moved from the bathroom, to the den where he could roam around and look out the window, and finally he was comfortable enough to be able to roam around the entire apartment. He loves to sleep on my dining room chairs while I'm working and he loves to have his head rubbed. It's amazing - the changes that you can make to an animal's life with a little love and patience!

A video of Sydney from December 2013: It's hard to believe that this is the same sullen, scared kitty!