Garden Tiger

I wanted to share this cute picture of Howie, one of our five cats, sitting in the garden today.

Howie is a rescue cat; we adopted him from a local cat shelter almost two years ago! He was originally named Alfie...
This caused a bit of a problem for us, since we already have an Alfie:

(This lovely boy is my shadow!)

On our way home from the cat shelter with our new cat, everyone argued over what he should be called, and our new boy 'sang' to us melancholically from his travel cage in the boot. 

Then we realised: his woeful meows sounded like he was calling out, 'Howard!'

And so, our new tabby boy was named Howard--which quickly became Howie.

Howie is an absolutely lovely boy! He is a real wuss and spends most of his time on my sister's bed or the neighbour's shed roof, but over the past few days he's taken to sitting in the garden! He likes to play games sometimes, and loves to be cuddled! It's really great that our timid cat has finally started to come out of his shell and enjoy the home he has with us.

There are so many cats out there wanting to be rehomed! Most of the cats we've had have been rescue cats and they have all been utterly wonderful. Going to a shelter knowing you can only pick that one kitty is so difficult, but at the same time it's really satisfying to know that you're giving an animal a loving home. :)