We recently lost my dear cat Alice after almost 17 years of companionship. I wasn't sure if I'd want another cat at first, but we soon realized how much we missed having a kitty in the house.

I was at PetSmart and spied a kitten who seemed promising.



She was right at the front of the cage, looking around at everything and not upset at all by the bustle of a Saturday in the pet store. I thought that was just the sort of cat that would fit in well in a home with two noisy Corgis. I checked her tag and it said her name was Snowflake and she was 4 months old. And deaf.

I wasn't sure about the deaf part, but I hauled my husband up to PetSmart and we agreed to put in an application for her. After doing some research on deaf cats, we decided it was nothing we couldn't cope with. And it's a good thing we put in our application right away, because over a dozen people wanted this cat. Fortunately for us, we'd struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers a few times, and told her about Alice and the Corgis, and she thought we would be the best home for the kitty.

So almost two weeks ago, she came home wearing a cone, because she'd licked open her spay incision. We renamed her Boo Radley (from "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and call her Boo for short (not that the cat can tell what we call her). We've been introducing her slowly to the dogs. She and Jack are in negotiations about how close they can get to each other without someone backing up. They originally settled on about 10 feet, but over a few days have agreed to a new contract stipulating that 2 to 3 feet would be sufficient. I give them a couple weeks before they are playing tag.

Maddie, on the other hand, has decided that she can see just as well from two rooms away, thank you very much. It is, however, her self-appointed job to thoroughly sniff every area the cat has visited, once Boo's safely tucked away upstairs in her own room.

Her cone came off a few days ago and she's looking much better after being able to give herself a good bath. And I think the deaf thing helps in a way because she can't hear those silly dogs bark.