🐈 Meet the Cats

Published on July 18, 2026.
Last updated on July 18, 2026.

Three cats run this household; my spouse and I just pay the rent. They each get a proper introduction below, and each has a lifetime of photographic evidence in the Cat Photos gallery.

🐯 Xena

Adopted: February 5, 2021
Birthday: August 5, 2020 (our best estimate)

Xena came to us from a barn on a farm just east of Birmingham, Iowa. In November 2020, Melody and I had moved into our first apartment together in Fairfield, and by January we were looking for our first cat. Late that month, a post made its way into the Fairfield Facebook group: a family one town over had a five-or-six-month-old barn kitten named Rockstar, freshly spayed and vaccinated and, in their words, "really ready for a new home."

Xena as a fluffy five-month-old barn kitten in January 2021, held up to the camera in the barn, back paws dangling.

Screenshot of the January 23, 2021 Facebook post: 'This cutie got spayed yesterday, plus her Rabies and Feline Leukemia vaccinations. She did great at the vet's office and is feeling good this morning. Now she is really ready for a new home. Please share!'

The adoption post that started it all, January 2021.

We almost visited on Thursday, February 4, but a forecast of snow made me nervous about the drive, so we pushed to Friday, February 5. The snow came anyway. School was canceled that day, the family's gravel road was covered in drifts that someone had thankfully plowed through, and we made the trip from Fairfield in our Dodge Grand Caravan, which included at least one minor slide on an icy road. We met Rockstar in the barn where she lived with her mother (a cat named Hissy) and siblings in a heated cat house the family had set up (the barn itself was unheated, and we were warned to dress warm). The family's eight-year-old daughter had been socializing the kittens and was personally coordinating the adoptions. We had a good time hanging out with the family and the cats, and Rockstar rode home to Fairfield with us that evening in the carrier we'd brought along.

She settled in almost immediately. The next day we sent the family an update: she had used her litter box, eaten, drunk water, and thoroughly explored her new home. Somewhere in those first days, Rockstar became Xena. The name was my pick, and Melody liked it right away. There's no deeper story to it, and no connection to the Warrior Princess; we just really like the name, and we feel it suits her.

Kitten Xena standing at her new food bowl on a striped mat, looking up at the camera.

Kitten Xena peeking out from her new cat bed, nestled under a striped sheet beside a scratching post and a brush.

Xena settling into our Fairfield apartment, February 2021.

Xena is calm and gentle. She likes her space and would prefer her bubble unpopped, by cats and humans alike, though she's pretty tolerant of the two of us. She's also easily startled; sudden sounds and new people will send her to a safe distance. She's independent but still affectionate, most of all in the morning, and she is a connoisseur of chill spots: my pillow, the cat tower, the top of the air purifier, the kitchen counter, and our cat-safe balcony, to name a few. She loves high places (the tops of the fridge and the bookshelf are both hers), and when she wants real privacy she disappears into the closet, on top of a pile of clothes or tucked behind the hanging ones.

Xena sitting on top of the refrigerator, which is covered in instant-photo magnets.

Xena sitting on top of a bookshelf beside a row of plush toys, her tail hanging over the manga below.

Xena peering out from a closet shelf, nestled on a pile of folded clothes beneath the hanging ones.

Xena loafing on top of a black air purifier, peering down at the camera.

Xena sitting upright on top of an air purifier in the sunlight, looking out the window.

Xena curled around a pillow on the bed, one paw draped over it.

Xena lying on a pillow in a patch of morning sun.

Xena curled on a pillow in the sun, resting her paw on the pillow's edge.

Xena sprawled across a pillow with her tail hanging off the edge of the bed.

Xena nestled into a sunlit pillow, looking directly at the camera.

Xena lounging across a pillow with one paw stretched onto the next pillow over.

A tour of Xena's favorite spots, including the long-running occupation of my pillow (click to enlarge).

Her caution has one reliable exception: groceries. Every time we bring them home, she's up on the counter inspecting and sniffing each item.

Xena sitting behind a kitchen counter covered in groceries, surveying the haul.

Grocery inspection in progress, March 19, 2026.

Another thing that sets her apart: unlike Sophie and Midna, Xena doesn't mind wearing outfits. She seems to enjoy them!

Xena in a black-and-orange pumpkin dress, sitting on the stairs next to a mini pumpkin.

Xena wearing an orange paisley bandana, lying on a purple blanket and looking at the camera.

Xena in a green Mike Wazowski hoodie, lying on the floor.

Xena asleep in soft window light, wearing a navy fair-isle sweater.

A few looks from the Xena collection (click to enlarge).

See all of Xena's photos →

🍂 Sophie

Adopted: October 2022
Birthday: unknown (see below)

Sophie is our mystery cat. On the afternoon of October 8, 2022, shortly after we'd moved to a new apartment building in Fairfield, a neighbor emailed to ask whether our cat had gotten loose: a resident had found a stray cat wandering around and tucked her into the downstairs conference room for safekeeping. As it happened, Melody and I were on a walk around the building at that very moment, with Xena along in her cat stroller, so we stopped by the conference room to say hi. There she was: an adult calico sitting on the couch like she'd reserved the room, already supplied with food, water, and a litter box by a kind resident. She hissed at Xena in her stroller. Xena did not react.

Her stay in the conference room was short. The apartment manager at the time evicted her and posted signs in the lobby clarifying that the building was not an animal shelter. Sophie was unmoved by the memo. She kept hanging around the building anyway, and we kept running into her whenever we took out the trash or walked to our car.

Sophie sprawled in the sun on a metal step outside the apartment building.

Sophie, scrappy from life outdoors, crouched beside a plastic cup of kibble a resident left out for her.

The first photos we ever took of Sophie, October 15, 2022 (click to enlarge).

October 2022 turned unusually cold, and we worried about her being out in it. Then we remembered we had an empty apartment. We'd moved into the new building on September 30 and had intentionally kept our old studio through the end of October, to give ourselves time to move out and clean without a time crunch. So on October 16, we drove Sophie to the studio. It was a very short drive, and she made it clear it was still far too much car for her taste; the movement of a car in motion unsettles her, and riding in one remains her greatest fear to this day. (Our current vet is conveniently just down the street, so Sophie commutes to her appointments by cat stroller. The stroller itself doesn't bother her; being outside does, with all its unfamiliar sights and sounds. It still beats the car.)

She was skinny, hungry, dirty, and flea-ridden, so the empty studio became a temporary one-cat rehabilitation center: food, water, a litter box, a bath from Melody, and carefully applied flea treatments.

Sophie eating from a dish on the wood floor of the empty studio apartment.

Sophie at her food dish in the empty studio apartment, with a water jug and bowls nearby.

Sophie crouched at a cat-face water dish on the wood floor of the studio apartment.

Recovering in our old studio apartment, October 16, 2022 (click to enlarge).

A week later, she was ready to come home for real. By October 23, she had moved into Melody's office in our new apartment, where she stayed for a week or so to get acclimated before we gradually introduced her to the rest of the place. Somewhere along the way, I named her Sophie, inspired by Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle. (I ended up picking all three of our cats' names.)

Sophie curled up in a cozy cat bed next to a plush toy in Melody's office.

Sophie rolling on her back beside a bookshelf, surrounded by cat toys.

Sophie relaxing at her water dish in front of a pink painting.

One week later: home at last, October 23, 2022 (click to enlarge).

Sophie and Xena did not like each other at all at first, and we endured many months of hissing and fighting before they finally mellowed. These days they tolerate each other well and mostly respect each other's boundaries, with only the occasional grumpy swipe. For the record, Sophie no longer hisses at Xena. Xena, who was once the one getting hissed at from a stroller, is now the only one who hisses.

She's the only one of our three cats with no adoption paperwork, no shelter file, and no kitten photos. That mystery extends to her age. Every vet who has met Sophie has made their own estimate, and they don't all agree.

Sophie is a cat of strong, simple loves. Food, about which she is very excited. Boxes, all of them: boxes to sit in, boxes to sit on, and boxes recently flattened.

Sophie sitting inside an opened USPS Priority Mail box.

Sophie sitting upright on top of a tall cardboard box like a statue on a plinth.

Sophie sitting upright in a black shoe box next to the shoe rack.

Sophie lounging on top of a stack of very large cardboard boxes.

Sophie loafing on top of a cardboard moving box.

Sophie lying inside a flattened Chewy delivery box.

Selected box work, 2023 to 2026 (click to enlarge).

And water, ideally from a fountain, next to which she likes to park herself for long, leisurely drinking sessions. The water stations have changed over the years; where they go, Sophie follows.

Sophie lying next to a raised white water bowl with a fish-bone design.

Sophie lying on the floor between two water bowls.

Sophie lying beside a stainless steel water fountain with a blue light.

Sophie lying beside a gravity water dispenser with a purple toy mouse in front of her.

Sophie lying beside a glass water fountain glowing with blue light.

Parked at the water station through the years (click to enlarge).

She's very affectionate, with an extremely loud purr that switches on almost the moment you start petting her, and she is a dedicated maker of biscuits. She's bonded most deeply to Melody, though she loves me too. She responds to her name, and also to meows. And she doesn't like being alone: she follows us from room to room, and if she loses track of us, she meows loudly until she reunites with us.

Her favorite spots include the top of the cat tower, the top of her cat donut, any bean bag, her yellow cat bed next to our bed, our bed itself, and the couch.

Sophie yawning while sprawled on the top perch of a gray cat tower.

Sophie curled up on a black bean bag with a Pokemon blanket, next to a second bean bag.

Sophie nestled in a navy bean bag against a Pokemon blanket.

Sophie perched regally on top of a large felt cat donut.

Sophie on the green couch, looking back over her shoulder.

Favorite spots, documented (click to enlarge).

Sophie is pretty lazy and content to never do anything athletic. We bought her a cat exercise wheel to help her get in shape, and she has never used it (though thankfully Midna uses it). And unlike Xena, she hates wearing outfits, so we never ask her to.

See all of Sophie's photos →

🎩 Midna

Adopted: August 19, 2023
Birthday: March 23, 2023, according to the shelter; probably a bit later, according to a vet (our guess is late April or early May)

Midna was a spontaneous adoption. On August 19, 2023, we drove to PAWS & More Animal Shelter, a small nonprofit shelter in Washington, Iowa, to meet some Siamese kittens they had up for adoption. The Siamese kittens were recovering from an upper respiratory illness in their own section of the shelter, and quarantined alongside them was one more sick kitten: a small black-and-white girl named Polly. The Siamese kittens were a whirlwind, jumping on our backs and scratching at our shoes. Polly just sat there, calm and reserved, taking it all in. The contrast helped us notice Polly. We were drawn to her and she she came home with us that day (along with her medication and instructions for administering it).

Kitten Midna, a black-and-white tuxedo, curled in a fuzzy round bed at the shelter beside a sleeping flame-point Siamese kitten.

One of the first photos we took of Midna, at the shelter on adoption day.

Her shelter records suggest she'd already been through a lot for a kitten: a string of eye ointments and antibiotics before she was ever ours. She was still sick and on medication when we brought her home, so she started her new life quarantined in our office. We bought an air mattress so Melody could sleep in the room with her. Once she recovered, she was able to start exploring our entire apartment and get used to her two big sisters.

Tiny kitten Midna sitting in the corner of the office next to a plastic-wrapped cat bed.

Kitten Midna sitting beside a green cactus-shaped scratching post, tail curled around her feet.

Kitten Midna perched on top of a canister vacuum cleaner in the corner of the room.

Kitten Midna sitting upright on a black cushion with her white paws lined up neatly.

Kitten Midna sitting alert on a black cushion, ears up, looking at the camera.

Kitten Midna tucked at the base of the cactus scratching post, next to a pair of small green dumbbells.

Midna's first days home, August 2023 (click to enlarge).

The next day, the shelter posted an update: "Polly was adopted yesterday. Happy tails!"

Melody holding kitten Midna at the shelter, with Chad standing beside them, both smiling.

The shelter's adoption-day photo of Melody, Midna, and me (photo by PAWS & More Animal Shelter).

Polly became Midna. Melody and I love Nintendo and Zelda, and we're both fond of Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; I picked the name and, as with Xena, Melody liked it right away. At her first checkup, the vet looked her over and informed us that she was probably younger than her paperwork claimed.

While Xena and Sophie took months to warm up to each other, Midna and Sophie hit it off almost immediately. In the early days, Midna would seek Sophie out just to cuddle with her, and Sophie let her.

Kitten Midna nestled against Sophie in a cat bed lined with a Halloween blanket.

Kitten Midna lying tucked against Sophie's side, both looking at the camera.

Kitten Midna resting against Sophie, who curls around her protectively.

Sophie and Midna pressed together on a black couch cushion.

Sophie and Midna lying back to back on the couch in the sunlight.

Sophie and Midna sharing a single small cat bed in the corner.

Sophie and Midna curled together on a chair, Midna's paw reaching onto Sophie.

Sophie and Midna stretched out together on a pumpkin-patterned blanket.

Sophie and Midna sitting together on the couch in front of a striped pillow.

Midna and Sophie's cuddle era, fall 2023 (click to enlarge).

Midna sleeps between our pillows every night. She is a creature of profound routine, keeping to particular spots at particular times of day on a schedule. And she has a favorite human: me. She seeks me out, stays close, and is happy to be picked up and carried around. Like Sophie, she hates wearing clothes, so we never put any on her.

See all of Midna's photos →

📸 More Cats

The full Cat Photos gallery has all three (plus photos of me with cats and other cats I've met). For cat care links and recommendations, see Cat Resources & Tips. And if you know the password, check out the Cute Cat Art gallery.