Baby

Entrant's First Name
Henri

Animal Bio
We adopted Baby aka "Seemao" in January 2019 from the SPCA in Powell River, BC. Baby is a 9 year old brown tiger striped cat of small stature at 4.5 kg but big on personality. She had been surrendered and then adopted and returned after 2 weeks because "she wanted to be an outside cat".

We have 2 adult dogs who have never had a cat in their lives in the 3 years that we have had them, and we have not had a cat in 25 years so this was going to be a challenge.

The first day Henri built Baby a beautiful wooden house complete with a light for heat and a wool reused sweater for comfort. Baby's house was placed on top of the large pile of lumber in the garage because she seemed to like being up high.

The second day Baby bit Henri hard on the hand when he tried to pet her. That was his thanks for giving her the lovely accommodation! What was amazing was when Baby had her thorough vet checkup a couple of days later, she never made any attempt to bite the Doctor. Over the next week there was a few more near misses when either of us tried to pet her. Another week passed and Baby started to trust us and she began enjoying our presence, our conversations with her and the physical contact.

From that point on each day bringing up Baby only got better. Baby took over the pile of wood in the garage and was happy to sit perched on top when she wasn't having her comfy regular afternoon nap in her house. When Henri is working in the garage, Baby is constantly getting in his way rubbing up against him, purring and happy to have his company. She even responds to her name when she is called, running from wherever she happens to be at the time.

I started calling Baby Henri's "companion cat" because if he left the garage and was working in the yard she was following him. Last week when he was going for a walk with his adult son, Baby was going to accompany them, at least to the edge of our yard. If the neighbours come to check Baby out, she is quite happy to leave the garage and hang out with them as long as it is within the borders of our property.

As for our dogs, they bark at anything within sight, but respect Baby and glance quietly at her with curiosity - or maybe with trepidation. Interestingly, Baby stares back at the dogs and remains unfazed perched on the lumber.

As noted in her photo Baby wears a break away colourful collar that alerts the birds; however, the collar will not deter her from hunting a rodent should she choose to do so. This takes precision skill to fasten the collar around her neck and again every time when it is removed for cleaning and then repositioned. Then there is the topical flea treatment that must be applied each month with or without Baby's approval.

Overall Baby has a sweet easy going disposition, enjoys our company and certainly seems content. Adopting Baby has enriched our lives and the lives of family and neighbours who have direct contact with her or listen to the "Baby" play by plays.

Maybe one day Baby will want to be "an inside cat" but for now the garage and yard are her domain.