Damn, the shelter woman knows I am a sucker for black cats. My first cats were black and I miss having a black cat around the place. A week ago, she showed me this little one and the first thing it did was hiss at us.
That's Wookie's mother on the right. I don't know if Wookie is a male or female yet, s/he doesn't like being held, for a very good reason, so I'm not going to push it, although the shelter owner said she thinks he is a male. She named him Yoda but since I already have a Yoda, I decided to keep to the Star Wars theme and call this hairy little mess Wookie.
Wookie's mother was brought in along with 2 kittens, one of which was dying and Wookie had been branded a "witch kitten" and blamed for causing the death of the others - there were originally more than 2 - although it's more likely that the kittens weren't being fed properly and died from that: Wookie was skin and bones and smaller than the kitten that died. So s/he may be the runt of the litter or was just smaller from mistreatment. It's so sad to see the level of prejudice that is still attached to black cats where I live.
Mom cat has been spayed and is waiting for her owner to collect her in the next few days. Her owner loves her and she doesn't fear people and Wookie is being kept with her until she goes and then he will come to me. His mother's presence calms him and there has been a lot of progress in the past week: no more hissing and a more relaxed curiosity and little paw pats and you can stroke him.
Because he's black, Wookie's chances of being homed are not good and the shelter owner doesn't have the time to put in the extra work that will be needed to fully socialise this poor little kitten so I am going to give him a home. I hope he and Peanut will bond and enjoy each other. Peanut loves his uncles but he does tire them out with his endless antics and he drives the old lady of the house crazy.
Here's Peanut yawning and taking over the space where I normally keep my keyboard. That's because he is the king of the house and I really hope that these two little mistreated souls will enjoy each other. Peanut was also very traumatised when I got him and although he is cuddly and trusting with me, he won't let anyone else touch him. That's ok, I like having him all to myself.