We got our third cat, Ishtar, about four months ago. Like Freyja and Salem, Ishi is an adorable little black cat.
Ishtar was originally a stray who was abandoned outside near my brother-in-law’s and his wife’s house. She was apparently there for about two years, since she was a kitten. Eventually they noticed she had developed a very bad skin infection on her ears and brought her in to take her for veterinary care and nurse her back to health. She was checked for a microchip. She had one from when she was initially brought into a vet to be spayed, but it had fake info and they couldn’t get in contact with the person registered to it. The vet in Texas said that her skin condition should clear up fine, and shouldn’t be a problem in the future if she is kept as an indoor cat, especially since she would be moving up north were the allergens aren’t as much of an issue.
Steve sent Hans a picture of Ishi, who was at that time referred to as Princess Snapdragon (technically, I kept her original name as part of her name. Her “government name” is Princess Ishtar Marie Snapdragon). He asked if we wanted another cat and told Hans to show me the picture. Hans acted like he wasn’t sure about getting a third cat, but he obviously wanted her, or he wouldn’t have shown me the picture, since me seeing her would obviously seal our fate. (I also pulled the “cancer card,” which I try not to do too often since its annoying. “After everything I went through last year, I deserve a new kitty baby to love!”)
Hans and I agreed to meet Steve half-way between each of our houses (Cleveland, OH and Houston, TX), at some random hotel in Jackson, Tennessee. We drove over 600 miles to get her, descending just past the entrance gates of the American underworld that is the Bible Belt. We drove from Cleveland to Jackson in one day, stayed the night, and drove back the next day so we wouldn’t need to pay for more nights in hotels or miss work.
The journey south wasn’t without perils. When we were nearing Columbus, the car started riding really rough and a horrible noise screeched from the front right wheel. When we pulled over at a rest stop to check it out, two of the lug nuts holding on the wheel were missing. Hans had just gotten an oil change and tire rotation, and they must not have tightened them enough. We ended up finding a parts store to get replacement lug nuts so we could finish the journey (he called the oil change place when we got back and he took the car back in). A third lug nut was missing by time we got to the parts store.
Once that little mishap was taken care of, it was still a long, long journey ahead. It took over ten hours to reach Jackson, TN after accounting for the above mentioned detour, bathroom breaks, and food stops. At least the further south you drive, the more White Castles you encounter. Of course we took advantage of that. There were interesting sights to see along the way, such as the famous Hell is Real billboard between Columbus and Cincinnati and ads for oddly specific museums, such as a pocket knife museum.
Eventually we made it to the hotel, where Steve and Ishtar were already waiting for us. Ishtar was understandably scared and was hiding under the bed when we arrived. Eventually we got her to come out and she went in her carrier. She had a huge carrier that took up the entire back seat of the car so she had plenty of room to move about on the journey. She had a litter box, food, and a cardboard box with a towel in the carrier as well. She was a little afraid of us at first, but she did end up coming out of the carrier and playing with me in the middle of the night in the hotel room. She even snuggled with me in bed for a bit!
The drive home with our new baby was less eventful than the drive down. She meowed most of the ten hours we were in the car, but she did well. When we got home, Freyja and Salem didn’t seem too interested in her. I think they were more interested in being fed a proper wet-food meal since they were stuck with only dry food for the almost two days we were gone.
I chose the name Ishtar after the Akkadian/Babylonian name for the goddess Inanna. I know the goddess as Inanna, so I didn’t want to use her exact name out of respect/to avoid confusion. (I know there is some debate in pagan circles about whether is ok to name pets after deities. I feel like it depends on the specific deity and how they feel about it). I also originally chose Freyja’s name because the goddess Freyja seemed superficially similar to Inanna to me, and Freyja is associated with cats and magick. Hans picked Salem’s name because we were watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch (the original ’90s version) at the time we found him, and he looks kind of like Salem Saberhagen. I later looked up the etymology of the name Salem and found out that it comes from the Canaanite got Shalim, who, like Inanna, is associated with the planet Venus. Knowing this, Ishtar is the perfect name for our newest addition!
Ishi’s lost fur was mostly grown back by time we got her home, except for a little patch behind her left ear, which reminded me a lot of the bald spot I had above my ear from chemo where the cold cap wasn’t secured tight enough. It was meant to be! She is super soft, just like Freyja and Salem, and she got even softer after giving her skin and fur supplement treats for a few weeks.
She was already spayed, vaccinated, and tested for contagious cat diseases before we brought her home, so we didn’t need to have those things done. We did keep her separated from the other two cats for a couple weeks, as you are supposed to do when you bring in a new kitty. There has been some scuffles and confrontations between Ishtar and her older sister and brother, but nothing too extreme. She is starting to become friends with Freyja. Salem, at times, almost seems afraid of Ishtar when she tries to play with him, even though she is so much smaller. I’m confident that eventually all three kittens will become BFFs.