I can't believe Salem is 1 year old already, look how tiny he was!
It's been a strange year. Salem came in to our lives after we lost our 7 year old cat, Oscar, to sudden kidney failure, it was a terrible shock and just at the start of the first lockdown. Oscar was a lovely boy and in many ways very similar to Salem. The way he used to jump on my back, Salem does that too, every time I bend down to clean the litter tray he's straight on my back (it's not so fun in a t-shirt).
Oscar had a buddy, Binx, they were the same age. After we lost Oscar I worried Binx would be lonely as he's such a nervous cat, so I searched the internet to find him a new friend and that's when we found Salem. I knew I wanted a Maine Coon, although I was quite tempted by the Ragdolls. I found a breeder and had a choice of two boys, it was so hard, I'm terrible when given a choice. How do you know what they will look like, their personality, but in the end I chose the black smoke boy with the green collar, Marmiko Boss.
Marmiko Boss became Salem and when he was 13 weeks old we drove the distance to pick him up. We certainly knew that he had arrived. A bundle of energy from the start, I wondered if Binx would be able to cope with him and his full on kitten energy. We did have a health scare at the first vet visit when the vet discovered a heart murmur, but that was monitored and disappeared a month later.
I bought window screens from flatcats, so I could safely open the windows - it was a hot Summer! Salem liked to climb the screens and thank goodness they were well made as he climbed them often.
I bought him a new Cat Tree, so he had something other than the windows to climb, claw and sleep in, after all, he wasn't interested in the lovely cosy cat bed I had bought him.
I then bought him a Cazami cat wheel, so I could redirect his energy to this in the middle of the night if necessary. I was getting tired, playing fetch at 2am and being woken by having a foam ball dropped on my head is tiring. Boy, does he love that wheel! It does sound a bit like a train at times and the speed, I don't know how it doesn't take off, but it is a very solid wheel and money well spent.
Such a lovely boy and still full of energy, we decided to get Salem a friend of a similar age as he was beginning to be a bit too much for Binx. It was by pure luck that we found Shanstars "Reach for the Stars', now known as Snow, a beautiful British Longhair girl, the polar opposite of Salem, but they get along so well, and Binx loves Snow too.
So, here's to Salem, Happy Birthday Boy, we love you!