About a month ago, I got a call from the MSPCA. They had my contact info from when I adopted Vivi last March, and I’d been in touch with them sending pictures of Vivi as she settled in to Camp life. They knew Camp was a great spot for a barn cat, so they called in the hope that we would be able to take on another mouser, a cat that they hadn’t been able to place and were desperate to re-home. Vivi isn’t very good at sharing, so I knew that I couldn’t take on a second farm cat at Burgess. But we’ve had some problems with pests at the stables Hayward, so I figured we could use a mouser over there!

A few days after the call, I drove to Boston to pick her up. I set her up in the Y building with food and water, toys, a box full of blankets, a litter box, and a space heater, so she could spend her month of confinement (which is necessary when you relocate a cat) in comfort. For the first few days, she was incredibly shy. I didn’t see her — I only heard her. In fact, she earned the nickname “Ghost” because she’s so good at hiding! But she slowly warmed up to us, and now she’ll come and say hello with some very enthusiastic head-butting. She’s still learning her manners — part of why she couldn’t go to an indoor home was that she didn’t get socialized very well as a kitten — but she’s already come a long way, and I’m confident she’ll make an excellent addition to the Hayward crew!

So without further ado, I officially present our new Hayward mouser, Bonnie! Here she is looking a bit skeptical at the idea of having her picture taken:

And here she is mid-roll, one of her favorite ways to greet a visitor: