My beautiful perpetually scared senior, somewhere between 10 and 14, adopted in a shelter where she had been ignored by every visitor for nine months.

Admittedly, she was so scared of everyone that I was the first human to scratch her head (and she definitely reminded me I was not exactly supposed to do that with her claws back then).

She is still easily scared, more than two years later. She stays in her small lair most of he time. But when wet food is on the table, she becomes bold and then we can cuddle her. The head ? Easy. The back ? Why not. The belly ? Duuude, you're pushing your luck !

I love her to death.

This picture is a rarity. Because of coryza, her brown eye is very often dirty. And we can't clean it, because she won't allow it.