# Happy to be here! Meet my growing family.



## LucyLoo&BentleyToo (May 10, 2011)

Hello, all. It's great to be here!  It's been awhile since I've been a member of any kind of forum (the Internet has sure changed a lot in a decade), but I'm sure I'll stick around for awhile and get to know all of you and your kitty kids. Any cat or animal lover is a friend of mine!

I apologize if this post get a little lengthy; there will be a quick "tl;dr" summary at the end if you want to skip to that. 

I'm a writing student who's been an animal lover (and animal rights activist) my entire life. For six months my long-term boyfriend and I have been setting up our new home together with my two-year-old tuxedo cat, Lucy. Lucy is the love of my life. I rescued her from a bad living situation (hidden in a college dorm with worms and a UTI, not spayed yet, and violently in heat). She turns three on June 27 and is very, very happy in our new house. She stayed with my mom and her two cats for a few months before we got settled, and when she moved in with us, her personality changed completely -- for the better. I've had her since she was about eight months old, and she's a very sweet, playful, talkative little girl. She's also got the softest fur I've ever felt -- and a cute little black polka dot on her white chin. 

Me with Lucy when she was a year old/the BF with her this year:
















Our new family's about to grow, too! A couple in my parents' neighborhood found a malnourished stray cat with a gaping neck wound and took him in, getting him vet care and naming him Gary. And then they found out: Gary was pregnant! :!: Long story short: Gary (name unchanged, haha) gave birth on March 27 to a litter of four healthy, gorgeous kittens -- three males and one female. One male was still unclaimed as of last week, so I agreed to come meet him. I fell in love immediately. :love2 I'll be taking my little boy, named Bentley, home this weekend after a vet visit and introducing him to his new big sister. He looks very much like a Bengal, his brothers even moreso, and though breed doesn't matter to me, I am so excited to have a kitten that looks like a miniature leopard-tiger hybrid.

Baby Bentley at exactly six weeks:









Part of the reason I joined this forum was to get advice and share my thoughts on introducing a new kitten into what is essentially Lucy's house. Lucy loves our attention, sleeps on top of us, and has been extremely content as the only cat of the house. However, in her kitten days, she bonded quite well with my mom's male cat, and I'm hoping she'll enjoy playing with her new sibling. :?: I want to introduce them exactly the right way, and I've been reading up on scents and separate rooms, etc... but I'll be posting my questions over the next few days and hope to get some advice from all of you.

Animals are very close to my heart (10-year vegetarian and all), but I will refrain from making any judgments about anyone on this site. I do feel VERY strongly about spaying/neutering your pets and adopting them from animal shelters or rescuing them from the streets. Considering the tragic numbers of domestic pets who are abandoned and/or euthanized every year, I cannot wrap my mind around the concept of breeding new babies intentionally. There are plenty of purebreds on death row in animal shelters across the world, and show pedigrees notwithstanding, I wish everyone knew the facts about these voiceless creatures. While neither of my kitties come from shelters, they fell into my lives in their own way, and I am thrilled to be able to give them the home they both needed. 

TL;DR: I'm a student living in a cozy new house with my boyfriend and my almost-three-year-old cat Lucy. This weekend we'll be picking up our new addition, a seven-week-old male kitten (with a rescued stray mama) who seems to have a lot of Bengal in him. 

I can't wait to meet you all and to share my kitties' lives with you as they continue to grow!


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## konstargirl (Feb 4, 2011)

Hi and welcome to the forum! YOur stories about your cats are interesting. I sure hope that Lucy will get along with the new cat. They are adorable.


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## katlover13 (Apr 15, 2008)

Welcome to the Cat Forum. Your views on taking care of and adopting cats will fit in well with most of the people on this site. Lucy seems like a real gem of a cat and Bentley is very cute. 
I have never had any problems introducing cats but there are people here who have and there are threads that specifically address that issue.
Best wishes to your whole family, including your new addition.


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## jeffreyjosepheast (May 11, 2011)

Gosh those are some adorable cats!


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## jeffreyjosepheast (May 11, 2011)

LucyLoo&BentleyToo said:


> Hello, all. It's great to be here!  It's been awhile since I've been a member of any kind of forum (the Internet has sure changed a lot in a decade), but I'm sure I'll stick around for awhile and get to know all of you and your kitty kids. Any cat or animal lover is a friend of mine!
> 
> I apologize if this post get a little lengthy; there will be a quick "tl;dr" summary at the end if you want to skip to that.
> 
> ...


My cat is named Lucy too!


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## Sephie (May 5, 2011)

Oh! Wow! Lucy's real pretty and Bentley's a stunner!  Gorgeous markings!


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Hi and welcome to the Forum! I couldn't agree with you more about the need to adopt from shelters. Your Lucy is adorable and I'm so glad you got her away from the situation she was in. And Bentley -- stunner! Let us know how the introduction goes.


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## Jan Rebecca (Oct 14, 2010)

Welcome to the forum -your new kitty looks almost exactly like my Tuffy looked at that age! Adorable.


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Hi! Welcome!

I LOVE your little one! He looks a little bit like my Rulos, a small lepoard as you said hahaha!

And Lucy looks adorable, hooray for tuxedo cats!


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## momto2boys (May 12, 2011)

Beautiful kitties!


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## blondie1483 (Jan 19, 2011)

Totally love what you wrote. Welcome!!


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## Feline999 (May 12, 2011)

Cute kitties!!!


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