One day in early November, a black cat crossed my path.

She was in my backyard and, to be more specific, she was only a tiny little kitten. The first couple times I saw her, she ran and hid before I could get a good look.

However, one morning when I went out to water plants, she didn’t run as far. She kept her distance and was stalking bugs like a little panther. Seeing my opportunity to pet a kitty (very important to one’s health), I grabbed some kibble from inside and lured her to me by tossing one piece at a time closer and closer to myself.

Eventually she was eating out of the bowl near me but didn’t want to be touched. That’s when I noticed the scab.

She had her fill and ran away.

At about noon, I went back out with a bowl of food and lured her again but this time made a bolder effort to pet her. There was about 40 minutes between first being able to sorta pet her to when she was ready to take a nap in my lap.

I didn’t know it that morning, but it turns out we had room to foster a kitten. All she wanted was to cuddle. She was malnourished, fighting an infection, and overall exhausted.

The next day, the vet debrided the wounds and gave her antibiotics for the infection.

It looks like something bit or grabbed her. The wounds really don’t look like bite marks, so our theory is that a large bird grabbed her and the talon tore out on one side causing her to drop and escape.

At this point, we needed to name her so we could call her something other than “the kitten”. I chose Shuri, the name of Marvel’s Black Panther, younger sister to T’Challa.

Once we got her up to weight, she got spayed, which meant back to preventing her from licking wounds.

April 22nd, my birthday, she went to our friends to live with forever. We were sad not to be able to keep her, but Allison’s allergies couldn’t handle her.

We hope to find another low-allergen cat to keep Link company. He does really like having another cat around.

Update November 2025

A year after being taken in, Shuri (now named Cinder) has a catio and is doing great.