My Adventure Kitty Turned 8 This Month

Help me wish him happy birthday!

Someone told me today that they wished they had a cat like mine.

An adventure kitty who would travel with them and behave in their carrier. I told her that my cat could have likely put hers to shame the first time he traveled with me. Shadow hollered like he was being kidnapped that day. My mom could hear him screaming all the way back at the house as I left our subdivision.

I’d argue he was actually more well-behaved the day I first took him home.

The cruel beginning.

Shadow’s original family abandoned him at a feral colony the night before a rare overnight freeze. Volunteers, aware that “winter is coming,” checked on a local colony they monitored and found his strange, new face. They also recognized that he wasn’t fully feral, so they trapped and neutered him but didn’t return him to the colony.

Around this time, I had just lost my kitten. I was away working one weekend, and she went outside to play and never returned. I got the bad news when I got home. I had just landed my first real job in America and had bought a fancy cat tree, expensive cat food, and toys. That made the loss even more devastating.

“You might as well get another one,” my mom suggested as the month dragged on with no updates on my missing kitten.

Zippy, the shy kitty.

While I was cat hunting, a shy little black cat caught my eye. His name was Zippy, and he was adorable. I contacted the volunteers and told them I would love to adopt him. They were excited that he would find a home, as black cats notoriously have low adoption rates.

As I left the house to meet my new furry friend, I got bad news. Someone else had beat me to it and had taken Zippy home. He was no longer available for adoption.

“We’re so sorry,” they told me. “We know you specifically wanted a black cat. We only have one more available, but you won’t want him. He’s semi-feral and likely not adoptable.”

“I’ll come see him,” I said.

The unnamed kitty.

Shadow was so newly rescued that he didn’t yet have a name. The volunteers weren’t quite sure what to do with him. He was too timid to be released back into the wild but too wild to be adopted.

“He’s very skittish,” his Foster Mom told me apologetically. “I’ll have to find him. I know where he usually goes.” It took her a few minutes, but she found him in one of his hiding spots and took him to me.

She told me to be as quiet and still as possible as it was really easy to spook him. She then slowly and gently handed him to me while the friend who drove me watched quietly.

She looked apprehensive as I took him. Shadow looked up at me momentarily, tucked his tail between his legs, and purred loudly—not out of pleasure but to calm himself.

It was love at first sight.

I’ll take him!

The lady looked at me like I had lost my mind. She repeated that he was semi-feral and warned that he might never warm up to me or anyone else. She told me semi-ferals were a lot of work and I might be disappointed after taking him home.

I told her I’d take my chances, but she genuinely felt I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I then told her I had volunteered at an animal shelter in Jamaica before moving to the U.S., so I was used to skittish rescue animals.

That changed her mind. She waived the adoption fee, helped me get him into his new carrier, put a towel inside it, and promised to stay in touch.

This was Shadow’s first day home with me on December 13, 2016.

They contacted me every day for 3 weeks.

The volunteer group continued to text, call, and email for three weeks. How was he adjusting? Was he okay? Remember, they could come and get him at any time. It was no shame or embarrassment if it didn’t work out. He’s semi-feral; it’s just how it goes. Please don’t let him back out. They will drive anywhere to take him back if they need to.

Those first three weeks were rough but intriguing.

I was determined to tame him but knew I couldn’t force it. Cats are the only domesticated animals that humans didn’t tame. You can’t tame a cat. They have to decide they want to be tame.

Despite my best efforts, Shadow was as wild as they promised. Mom got scratched, I got bitten, and he spent most days hiding in various spots. At one point, he clawed his way into the mattress, and I had to cut it open to get him out.

Still, I had a few tricks up my sleeve!

Despite being terrified of me, he got anxious when I was away. I learned that catnip could keep him calm and happy during my 16-hour shifts. When I was away, I also left a little radio on so that he could get used to human voices.

He finally learned to trust me.

Three weeks to the day, I was doing freelance work from home when he wandered into the middle of the living room. This is unusual behavior for feral cats. They usually stay against walls or in corners where they feel protected.

He walked up to the desk where I was working and studied me for a while. I nervously tried not to make any sudden movements to scare him away. Then, suddenly, he hopped up into my lap and fell asleep.

At that moment, a text message came through. It was the volunteers checking in again and reminding me they would drive as far as needed to get him. It was no trouble, but please don’t abandon him.

I raised the phone over my lap, took a photo of Shadow, and sent it to them. They responded with relief and joy that their most unlikely kitty had found his forever home.

He became an adventure kitty at four.

Another four years would pass before Shadow moved on to the next chapter of his life. It had always been my plan to travel extensively. But he would get anxious whenever I left home for two weeks or more. He would cry and wail and pretend he was injured. He was exceptionally dramatic!

So, I knew that I couldn’t start my digital nomad journey without him.

Every detail of my travel plans and RV journey revolved around Shadow. I chose a floorplan with a long hallway, so he would have space to run. I chose an RV with a big picture window so he could sit comfortably and see outside.

Even my overlanding tent only has a bed for half the space because the other half belongs to my cat. And when we travel, he rides shotgun.

People have joked that I give my cat more consideration than many people give to their children. That may be true, but my adventure buddy has earned it. He truly is the best travel partner I could have asked for.

It’s bittersweet.

Still, celebrating his eighth birthday feels bittersweet. And not just because of the ridiculously high vet bill I’ll share with you guys next week, but because he’s officially middle-aged. The vet refers to him as a “senior” now; this week, I bought him food for “mature” cats for the first time. He still has the energy of a kitten, but every so often now he misses one of his more daring jumps.

It’s really hard to make peace with the fact that I’ve probably had more years with him in the past than I have left for the future. That’s the downside of loving our furry friends. Eventually, we outlive them and must endure the heartbreak of a lifetime.

In the interim, I feel honored to have been The Chosen One by this semi-feral cat that no one thought would ever love a human enough to be tame. He’s one of the best decisions I ever made, and I look forward to the years ahead—however many Fate throws our way.

If you’d like to read Shadow’s version of his origin story, he wrote about this in a 2021 post on his Substack: How Did I Become an Adventure Cat? A few people have asked me whether Shadow will start writing again, and the answer is yes. He’ll resume his writing this summer or fall once we finally have a week without an endless to-do list. As you can imagine, moving across three countries (Mexico, the United States, and then Spain!) in three months is quite a lot, but we’re working on it.

If you’re a paid subscriber, next week, I’ll share that surprisingly high vet bill and what the process has been so far for traveling “across the pond” with a senior cat. See you next time!