Greetings Fabulous Felines and Hoomans of Hivelandia and surrounding communities!

Today is a special day in our corner of the world as we are celebrating the 3rd anniversary of when Smudge came to live with us!

Smudge, Christmas 2021, already comfortable in her new home

It's hard to believe that it has already been three years. But it was on this day — November 21st — three years ago that Smudge's former Hooman Mom came and put some of her furniture and other things for storage in the Hooman's garage, and Smudge became part of our household.

Whereas the furniture is a temporary storage situation, little Smudge was permanently here for her new home.

A frightened and confused Smudge, hiding under a chair on her first day here

The problem, you see, was that Smudge's former Hooman Mom was moving to the Dominican Republic and she did not feel that it would be fair to take a 16 (almost 17) year old cat from a life in a cushy condominium in greater Seattle to what essentially was a field clinic in the less developed parts of the DR.

It was both a consideration of travel stress, as well as lifestyle change for a very senior kitty.

Smudge loves her sunny spots!

Since she was a good friend of the Mom-Hooman's, we agreed that Smudge could come and live with us in her old age.

Of course the poor dear was quite scared and confused and during the first few weeks and she seldom emerged from her "safe spot" under a chair... except to eat and use the litter box.

Smudge quickly turns into a fluffcloud! She actually has to have haircuts, twice a year!

In time, she gradually emerged from her hidey-hole and then started finding her own routine with us.

We'd like to think that we've been able to offer her a better quality of life in her senior years, and three years later — as she approaches her 20th birthday — she is a very old but on the whole healthy and happy cat.

Chilling in her comfy bed!

Smudge has cataracts in one eye and limited sight in the other — which she already had when she arrived here — but she knows her way around pretty well.

She loves her sunny spots, and she likes to get special treats while the humans are in the dining room eating breakfast. Although she is free to roam, she prefers to be in the living room area where she found safety and peace during here first days here.

Getting a breakfast treat!

These days, she sleeps much of the time, and she provides a quiet and wise presence in the house. We are very grateful that she has settled in well with us and become a part of our cat family!

So today's post is all about Smudge as we say "thank you" for a three great years... and hopefully she will continue to live with us in comfort, for several more years!

Old lady kitty enjoying a good nap in the sun!

Thanks for stopping by our little cat blog, and we hope to see you again soon for Caturday!

In the mean time, have a great Friday!

=^..^=

Love Cats? Get Involved in Hive's Cat Communities!

If you're a cat lover and often/sometimes post pictures or other content that includes your feline friends, why not become an active part of Hive's growing Cat Communities?

These are some of the more active Cat Communities — why not join them ALL? Many of the allow you to share your cat posts, even if you started at a different community!

HiveCats by @curatorcat is a central "gathering place" for cat content on Hive; promoting the use of the #hivecats tag for feline content!

Cat Snaps by @manorvillemike is a place to post pictures of your cats when you don't have a whole lot to say beyond just sharing your cute photos!

Caturday by @saboin is a community where we get to celebrate posts relating to Saturday — aka "Caturday" — our own special day!

Cat Photos by @andrarchy is a "mixed use" cat content community; posts can be just photos or longer, as long as the subject is CATS!

Cats by @captainklaus (and Sissi!) is another "general" cat content community.

There are a number of other feline communities listed on Hive, but I am not sharing them for now as they have not had any activity (by their Admins OR users) since the Steem/Hive fork. Updates as they become available!

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