Oscar, an orange tabby, was adopted at age six in late October of 2016.  The first six years of his life, he was in and out of foster homes, after his original owner died.  At the time of adoption, I was told that Oscar and his sister Buttercup, could never adapt in former homes when being fostered.  Only to learn he was often in homes with children under the age of five and several dogs – and usually confined.  No wonder they couldn’t “adapt.”  It’s no mystery that Oscar and Buttercup adapted pretty quickly to the Augustine Palace.  Considering that my home is quiet, (it’s just me) often with harp or yoga type music playing in the background, and although the place (or palace) is small, there’s plenty of entertainment.  A fully screened patio that overlooks a pond with ducks, turtles, lots of birds – even a hawk, and we’ve been told possibly an alligator… though we’ve never seen it.

Oscar is a big cat – about 18 pounds and loves being with you no matter where you are.  Although he’s not a lap cat, he will sit close to me.  And usually, when I’m at the computer, he’s right there with me guiding the mouse.  He approves all our Facebook posts and loves to be photographed.  He’ll actually pose for me.

His personality reminds me so much of Ziggy’s – laid back, inquisitive, and loves my shoes.  Oscar does the same thing that Ziggy use to do… take my shoes and lay on them. At times, he’ll take one of them and hide it.  Oscar loves to also hide out in my closet – to be even closer to me.  He’s a champion at chasing “Da Bird” and loves cat nip.  At times he’ll use the cat bed I purchased for him, but he prefers any box that was recently delivered and empty waiting to be taken to the dumpster.

Now although Oscar is Buttercup’s brother and supposedly they are litter mates, they do not get along.  Maybe that’s what the foster mom’s meant by they “couldn’t adapt?” … Oscar often wants to play and Buttercup usually can’t be bothered – hence the hissing and smacking by Buttercup who weighs barely eight pounds to Oscar’s 18.

It’s delightful to have this orange feline be so loving and who adapted to my home very quickly considering he was an “older” cat.

Oh, and I guess you’re wondering why he’s listed as Oscar aka Chance… I wanted to change his name to Chance – because I took a chance on adopting him – it was love at first sight.  The story is, I kept calling him everything but Chance, but he would only answer to Oscar.  I’ll often call him Ozzie or Ollie… he just doesn’t seem like an Oscar to me, but he’s my big boy and I love him – orange fur and all.