A lavender Siamese named Horatio is a very affectionate cat.

It is a very sad time in the Weintraub household as we prepare to surrender our lavender Siamese named Horatio. You may recall when we adopted Horatio six months earlier. He had been living at the Sisters Animal Sanctuary in Elk Grove ever since he was born. He was used to living on his own there, running outside in an enclosed pen, and pretty much doing whatever he wanted. When he came to live with us, his wild eyes constantly darted about the room, half in worry, I suppose, and the other half was just to keep apprised of what was going on. Like a street savvy cat without ever living in the streets. He wasn’t really socialized in a home.

The first thing he did was push out our bedroom screen, which broke and we replaced it. He did it again. So we replaced the window screen with a very durable pet screen, and that did the trick. It was our fault for opening a window right next to the bird bath. Those birds drove Horatio crazy. Today, I’m happy to say, he is a very well behaved cat. He doesn’t jump on the counters, uses Breeze pellets and is not a fussy eater. He doesn’t claw anything in the house and he uses his scratching pad. He’s a very good cat, personable and friendly.

We decided to adopt a lavender Siamese named Horatio because our senior cat, Pica, had died. Pica struggled for several years with diabetes, and eventually developed too many other diseases and we couldn’t keep his diabetes under control any longer. We waited 6 months after euthanizing Pica before we began to look for another cat to fill the hole in our house. Not that any cat could ever replace Pica in our hearts, because that’s impossible. But Tessa, our Ocicat, and Jackson, our Ragdoll, were mourning, too. We were a 3-cat household, damn it, not a 2-cat.

After several months, we were finally able to get Horatio to look at us when we talked to him. He also talked back. He became engaged with us. We taught him to play with toys on a string, which he would drag around the house and put in our laps. But in the process, we lost sight of Tessa and Jackson.

Jackson cannot take the stress of having Horatio in a condo with him.

Look at this photo of Jackson with Horatio. They look like they’re getting along, but they were not. Jackson was in the condo first, and Horatio jumped up and pushed his way in. This upset Jackson so much that he developed an inflamed bladder. Jackson is such a tender soul. Twice I had to take him to the vet for treatment. Two months after Horatio arrived, and again about a month ago. The vet said it was stress that caused him such distress. At first I thought it was because I had gone to Minneapolis for a funeral, but no, it was Horatio.

Tessa is not pleased that Horatio squeezed himself between her and the window.

Horatio snuggles in wherever he wants, without regard to an invitation nor picking up on our cat’s discontentment. Tessa and Jackson stopped sleeping with us at night. Only Horatio came to bed. Horatio barged in to take their toys and interrupted red dot playtime. He is sweet and purrs all the time. He is truly an adorable cat and it breaks out hearts to have take him back to the Sisters Animal Sanctuary. Two days ago, one of Tessa’s 3 eyelids (who knew cats have 3 eyelids?) swelled and began to protrude. The vet said she was stressed. I felt so guilty.

I think Horatio would do well in a home without any other cats. He has a dominant personality, the kind that would get along well dogs. He has no fear of anything, really, except a belt. I don’t know why he is afraid of belts, as I’m sure he was not mistreated where he lived. If you would like to adopt a lavender Siamese named Horatio, he will be available at the Sisters Animal Sanctuary as soon as they can find room to house him.

Much as we love and adore this cat, we can’t let our own cats suffer. And that’s just a crying shame he can’t stay with us.