Jedi by Knight

After at least a year of “thinking about it,” my husband and I got a new cat in January!  Her name is Juhani, after the Knights of the Old Republic character.  You may recall that our other cat is named Jolee, also a KOTOR character.

Juhani is a female Cathar whom you meet on Dantooine; I think she is the only character where you have a choice as to whether she joins your party or not.

Our Juhani is around 4-5 years old and came from the local humane society where I used to work.  We wanted a cat that would be able to play with (or just tolerate) Jolee, who very active and attention-hungry.  In fact, we wanted a cat that was as little like Jolee as possible.  I love him, but one is enough.

Juhani and Jolee: a great depiction of their personalities

Juhani arrived at the shelter with a broken jaw, possibly as the result of a car accident, and was healed enough to be put in the “adoptable” category just a few days before we came wandering into the shelter.  We thought she was beautiful, and my husband even suggested that we could call her “Juhani” due to the orange stripes on her head.  Her left ear is “tipped,” probably due to a spay-and-release program, and the end of her tail is white, just like Jolee’s.

Our Juhani

KOTOR Juhani

We kept her separated in the spare bedroom for about a month, slowly introducing her to Jolee a few hours at a time.  It was actually a lot of work.  She is not super timid, but he has no manners and is overly enthusiastic around other cats.  He still occasionally greets her by walking up and swatting at her tail, or licking her paws while she naps.

We started by feeding them treats together, and then playing with a wand toy.  He got squirted with the squirt gun when he was too aggressive and jumped on her (doesn’t help that he’s got several pounds on her).  At some point, she bit him on the neck and it got infected, which earned him a trip to the vet and some antibiotics.  Unfortunately, they made him nauseated, and he threw up all over the house for several days, including on our bed, in the office, and on a living room chair.  At least he shouldn’t have any hairballs for awhile.

Juhani is ready to roam.

Her front left leg has an old injury.

After about a month, she was unhappy being shut in the room every night, so one weekend we let her out 24/7 and no one died, so we have left her out ever since.  They eat together beautifully and even chase and roughhouse a bit with no hissing involved.  She is really a wonderful cat: laid-back, sweet, playful, and very much a lap cat.