For any who may be wondering why, if my furry self is an unmarked sandy color, is my icon in bold back and white?

Meet my cat, Shinigami. Shini, for short.

He's gotten fatter since these pictures, the most recent of which was taken years ago. He still spends most his time looking either vaguely annoyed, but not enough to do anything about it, or startled.

My icon was originally a slightly-larger picture I drew in Paint Shop Pro 7 several years back, in an attempt the capture the misty metallic green shimmer inside his pupils when the light hits them juuuust right. See the bottom left picture for a subdued example of the effect.

If I ever again own a camera, I may end up posting more photos of this guy, and his current roommates (assuming they're still living here when I get that camera).

The other cats are (in long and rambling detail):

Abby - a small calico female. Tends to timidity, but gets more comfortable around me and the boys every year. Second in the Cat Pecking Order, after Shinigami. Loves being petted with force behind it. Up until the point of organ-crushing, she remains pretty happy. Extremely territorial towards the feral cats in the neighborhood. Occasionally gets into fights. Used to piss in the windowsill when strange cats approached outside until I taught her that keeping strangers out of the human-cave was my job. Sadly, Abby lives with me because her previous house was unsafe. Either the owner of the apartment building, or the husband of the owner, I don't recall, was endangering the cats in the building. Including entering one tenant's apartment and poisoning her cat. He went to jail for animal abuse multiple times. So Abby came to live with me. She was scared stiff and hid for the first several months, but at least she was safe.
Additional detail: before her previous owner, she's been abandoned twice to live as a feral cat for a total of at least a couple years of her life. She's been through a lot, and many of her personal quirks aren't at all surprising in light of her past.

[ETA: Ghosty is deceased.]
Ghosty - My mom's cat. The bottom-tier cat in the hierarchy. A long, gangly blue-eyed white. She can't keep him with her, because her new husband is seriously allergic (trouble breathing allergic, not just sniffliness). He's quite old, and his spine is slowly dying from the tail up, leaving his legs a bit shaky. He also has skin cancer, and may have had a stroke at one point, leaving him a bit dim and easily confused (still not the stupidest cat I've ever lived with, but that's a tale for another time). I also suspect he's going deaf. He's needy, and stinky, and I hate him a little more every day. I give him special treats beyond what I give the others, because I'm not sure he can manage the kibble as well any more. A couple spoonfuls of milk here, a tiny scrap of cheese there, the trimmings when I can afford a steak... Just little bits now and then. To be honest, partly as a distraction so he'll leave me alone for a few minutes. Mom spoiled him a lot when he lived with her, so he tends to be a lot more pushy and demanding than the other cats. And with his mind not working so well, corrections don't go far, and sometimes don't do anything but upset him to no gain.

Shinigami is, frankly, the best-behaved and most intelligent of the group. He learns quickly when I scold him for things he shouldn't do ("Hey! No! Down! The computer chair is mine, not for cats."), and almost never bites or scratches (on purpose, anyway. Sometimes he jumps off my lap too fast, not understanding how pointy he is). Of all the cats, Shinigami is the most cuddle happy. He loves to curl up on your lap and drool until you feel like you're petting a tiny St. Bernard. He also likes to sleep on my feet while I'm in bed (after I fiercely vetoed any cats approaching the head of my bed, on pain of hissing in their face and swatting at them).

Honestly, I really can't handle three cats at once for much longer, but we've got a possible home for Abby (grandma has to make a call or two, but her friend should be able to take Abby), and mom's going to take Ghosty to a vet to get a professional opinion on his life expectancy. It'll be a bit lonely when it's back down to just Shinigami and me, but it should be a lot less stressful (I'll need to only clean up a tenth of the puke! Shinigami's the least pukey of the three!).

If you read this far, thanks for taking the time. If you want to see photos of the others, I may put some up in the future, so stay tuned.



This might go in scraps later. It's not a very good collage... Maybe I'll post one or two of the base pictures on their own, cleaned up a bit.