2026-01-27-two-cats-are-better-than-one

```yaml title: Two Cats Are Better Than One link: two-cats-are-better-than-one published_date: 2026-01-27 04:43 make_discoverable: true ``` --- ### Two Cats Are Better Than One When Christina found Pixel at the Humane Society, and we adopted our second cat, that was yet another entry on our constantly growing "List of first-times" because while I have had cats in the past, I've never been in a situation where I had two of the same animal. I have always heard people say that you should have a second cat, a second dog so they had someone to keep them company. I used to think that was just a thing people said to justify their acquisition of more animals. Cos the chances of an 'animal person' really being a 'huge animal person' is pretty high. You don't meet many dog or cat owners that are neutral about their animal. But now that we have two cats, I can say that despite it only shy of a month, it is definitely the way to go. The way these two engage with one another warms my heart to no end, but it did come with a bit of an emotional entrance fee. Now while we will never know for certain, shortly after we got Pixel, about a week after as a matter of fact, suddenly Pixel and Shadow started to sneeze and Shadow's eyes were really terrible looking. Then both of them started to have very sort of labored breathing, like they smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. We're both freaking the fuck out. I'm literally balling my fucking eyes out thinking my cats are going to die. We reached a point of no return and decide in that moment that we must go to emergency vet in the neighboring town. We have yet to establish ourselves with a vet properly in the area, and it's not the easiest thing to do cos a lot this veterinarian stuff has gotten pretty wild and out-of-hand in my opinion. That is to say, it seems like there more "care" pushed onto a person than makes me comfortable. I'm violently put off by injecting my cats which will primarily be in the house 98% of the time with a bazillion different vaccines. It seems wild to me. It makes more sense for dogs because they oftentimes follow their owners everywhere. So there we were at the emergency vet for almost six and half hours. Don't get me wrong that was some of the hardest waiting we had to do as a couple, ranking up there for our many times in the hospital with Grandma, the way you have your very foundational bricks are being stress-tested in real-time – but these people were true professionals. The hardest part honestly was seeing everyone else who was coming in during that time. You're seeing pet lovers in their most vulnerable moments. Rough and rugged dog owners with destroyed Carhartt jackets walking in with dogs in shallow storage bins. It was a lot. I smoked so many god damn cigarettes and drank three cups of their free coffee despite feeling like a criminal doing so. These cats have been keeping Christina and I sane with everything else going on in life right now and that was being put in question. As it turns out, upper respiratory infections are not too wildly uncommon with cats and so that is what it ended up being. Shadow actually had it worse than Pixel, at least based on the tests they did to get the work done they need to to bring these boys back to life. Neither of us got much sleep that night, and if I hadn't taken almost 25g of creatine there was no way in hell I was going to make it through work. But still after that, it was a solid two weeks of Shadow still looking like he wasn't going to improve and that was the mostly troubling part to watch. The parts of his personality that defined who he was were absent, he was super lethargic and his eyes only seemed to be improving marginally. Then one day he randomly starts grooming Pixel as if it is himself. Then suddenly the boys are inseparable and constantly laying up against one another. I've made jokes to Christina about how we should how maybe named Shadow Genesis and Pixel Shadow cos literally everywhere Shadow goes, Pixel is a one cat pace behind him. Like they are from the same litter. It's insane. And then one day all the sudden Shadow started doing the sort of rough-house playing with Pixel, like they were wrestling or sparring mixed martial arts. Then in the course of a single day his eyes cleared up. Insanity. I don't get it, but I am superbly grateful things have turned around in our favor. There are some parts of Shadow that left with his temporarily illness. He and I would sort of rough-house with one another, and he would gently bite me and scratch me, you know, it wouldn't break the skin all the time, but it was like his way of getting out some good play time. Well that's all gone now, he's got Pixel. Pixel has opened up quite a bit, but is still very skiddish about everything. I am willing to bet that he didn't have the easiest first six months of his life. And from what I understand he was adopted out but returned or some shit like that. Super sad to hear that kind of shit. But patience and time will solve these things. They always do. ■ --- <div class="benjamin"> 🎧 Depeche Mode - Freestate via <a href="https://www.wmprkr.xyz/music/">⚙️ Vault 333</a> ✉️ <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject={{ post_title }}">Reply by Email</a> </div>