So, I have two sweet kittens that get along just great, a boyfriend, a job, but do I stop? Noooo, I run out and get a third cat. And despite all the challenges, I am glad I did. But the challenges were definitely there.

While helping out at the shelter, there was one cat that caught my attention. Actually, there were plenty, but this one was very special. She was about 2 years old, pitch black, two fiery yellow eyes, and stayed at the shelter with her mother. Since I had been contemplating the idea of a third cat, I inquired, but it turned out her card said she needed a garden, and since I had an apartment at the time, it seemed not meant to be.

Her mother though, found a new home without a garden, although the card said she needed one, and it went very well. Nobody seemed to be interested in ‘Snoopy’ though, as her name was back then. I pondered the idea, of course, but since Prinny and Trini had had such a rocky start, I wasn’t sure.

Winter turned to Spring, and ‘Snoopy’ was still with us. Five months she had lived indoors at the shelter and even worse…with the season of kittens ahead of us, her chances of getting out of there were getting slimmer by the minute. Add to that that the shelter did not have that much room available and they are not allowed legally to refuse any stray cats….well you can do the math. The staff started putting a list together of the cats that were severely ill, old or had been with us for a long time. I didn’t know this when I made my decision, but I am glad I decided to take her home, because she was on that list. I figured since she was able to live indoors for five months in the shelter, she was up to living in an apartment.

Once home, she was given the name ‘Luna’. Her coat shone like the full moon does during an otherwise pitch black night. I had learnt a bit about cats by then, bought books on how to introduce cats etc, and I did this one by the book. Put her in a small room, give her time to adjust, then only allow supervised visits once everyone has settled down. The works, basically.

She turned out quite the little go-go cat, racing around our house like a bonkers kitten. She loved the scratching post and regularly hung from it like a baboon. Toys were never safe, and neither were other cats. Being the youngest of the lot, she loved playing, and of course teasing and testing other cats, guerilla-style. Trini occasionally joined in but Prin turned out to be a regular stuffy aunt and even worse, a drama queen when it came to Lulu’s (as we affectionately call her) games.

As time went on, she settled in quite nicely, becoming more sure of herself. She was a regular joker. More than once she made us laugh until the tears were rolling from our cheeks. Often, we would see a couple of tails, one pitch black and another tricolored, hopping by, accompanied by the sounds of things falling over. Lulu and Trini were managing just fine to tear down the house. Prinny just looked down on them as they raced by, not willing to compromise her dignity for a bit of rough and tumble. Those young hooligans were not her cup of tea.

And everything went well….or so I thought. It turned out our little Luna was a ticking time bomb.