By Judith Roberts

A new cat has arrived.

As I mentioned in my previous column, we had a small loss this month when our outdoor cat Apollo passed away. She was a great cat, a wonderful pet for our whole family, but age is taking its toll on all of us.

Kyle believes she did her best by waiting until summer when she found another cat who, while not necessarily going to take her place, would love us just as much as she did.

Since Apollo was an outdoor cat, he was fed outside, and so over time we fed a variety of stray cats (and sometimes opossums, raccoons, and deer) that ventured as far as our back door. The one who stayed with us the longest was Charlie, aka Cow Cat, who was a fixture in our house for two years. He was always too shy to be petted, but he had no qualms about meowing to Apollo for his food. Over the Christmas holidays, however, he decided to move into what I call cat paradise, my friend Kari’s house, which is about a mile from mine. She found him on her back porch with some other cats she feeds, named him Cow Cat (because he’s colored like a cow), and he’s lived there happily ever after.

With Charlie/Cow Cat gone, it seemed like an opportunity to find a young black male cat, who my younger daughter named. He is absolutely adorable with his short, midnight black fur and bright yellow eyes. He looks young, not like a kitten, but definitely like a young cat. He is strong and lean and will pounce on any lizard or insect he sees outside. He hangs out with us all summer, never letting us pet him, but always interested in any food we put out for him.

My daughter Penny, who always secretly brought Apollo into the house at night so that he could sleep with her, was the first to pet this cat.

I really thought it would take longer; I thought we would need several more months to gain his trust, but Penny is apparently the cat whisperer. Within a week of feeding him and sitting outside with him, this cat is suddenly purring around her, snuggling up to her, and almost ready to let her hold him. It’s Alice too – he loves her too.

Me? Well, he tolerates me. But that’s okay, because he loves the girls. That’s the most important thing.

He may not stay with us, but I hope he does. I think he will. He’s a sweet cat and I would love to take in a stray and take care of him the way he needs. He needs us and we need him.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Merlin.