We brought our new cat Salem into our life about a month ago. He was a stray who just showed up on our porch one day. After he decided to make our porch his home, I started feeding him because he looked skinny and sad. He was so friendly and cuddly, he didn’t deserve to go hungry. He kept trying to come inside with us whenever we came home, follow us whenever we left and he always head butted me when I came outside to see him. It was like he picked us out to be his new owners, and there was nothing we could do about it. He must have heard that the world’s prettiest female cat lives with us, or maybe that we have premium wet cat food. Cats sure are manipulative!

I took Freyja out on the porch to meet him before we brought him in to make sure they wouldn’t hate each other. She seemed uninterested at first, but Salem rolled over to show her his belly. I think that means he trusted her. At least Freyja didn’t seem to hate him.

Later that day we took him to be scanned for a microchip since he didn’t have a collar. No chip. None of the neighbors knew anything about him and no one put up “lost cat” signs or online listings looking for him. I think someone dumped him off since he didn’t have a microchip or collar, wasn’t neutered, and was skinny and dirty. We thought he was older than Freyja when we decided to adopt him since he’s taller and has a way bigger head, but the vet said he’s between 6 and 12 months old (neither my husband nor I have had cats before Freyja, only dogs, so we aren’t exactly cat experts). I saw a couple of other black cats roaming around at the other end of the block around the same time. Some irresponsible person’s cat probably had kittens that they couldn’t find homes for, and decided to dump them outside. We’re estimating his birthday as Halloween since he’s an adorable black cat.

He’s just a little bit younger than Freyja, but he’s taller and weighs a couple pounds more (now that he gets regular meals!). We kept them completely separated until he got tested for FIV and FeLV and got his first round of shots, and then slowly introduced them afterward. Freyja became interested in him pretty quickly and really wanted to play with him. When we finally allowed them together, she was a bit to rough in her playing and Salem got frightened, but they learned to get along pretty quickly and became great friends within a couple of weeks.

This is the first week we’ve let them be together while we’re at work. It’s the cutest thing ever when they sleep next to each other and groom each other. I was nervous every about introducing a new cat to Freyja after everything I’ve read online about bringing home a new cat, but they already love each other.

Salem is the most cuddly cat we’ve ever met. He likes to follow us around and sit on the couch while we watch TV. He’s pretty calm for a kitten too. Freyja is definitely the more playful of the two, though Salem can get going when we bring out a wand toy or catnip. Catnip seems to work better on Salem than on Freyja.

We already had him neutered, so there won’t be any little black baby kittens, as adorable as that would be. I’m only saying that here since that’s the first thing every single person we’ve told about him has asked (Freyja was already spayed just before we adopted her).

Black cats are the best! From what I’ve heard from other cat people, black cats are usually the friendliest and most cuddly, but they are the least likely to get adopted. Apparently some people are still superstitious of them. Possibly even worse, some people don’t like black cats (and dogs) because they think they don’t photograph well. These are both really idiotic reasons to overlook a cat or dog. If you’re looking for a new pet, please consider adopting a black kitty of your own! You won’t regret it!