Hello everyone. I recently (last week) adopted a female persian who is just a year old when her former mama lost her job and couldn't keep her anymore. I'm sure I will have some questions, particularly about grooming, as I have never owned a long-haired cat before (I've always had Siamese).

I will try to get my son to take better pictures of her. I'm not sure what color she is ... tortie or calico? I would say tortoiseshell, but since she does have 3 colors (cream in a limited amt .. mainly a swath on her ruff), I didn't know if that made her a calico instead.

She is starting to get used to everything now and will rear up on her hind legs playing with her toys, turn flips in mid-air and try to weasel her way into any closed off room.

I've successfully transitioned her to canned from her dry food (it only took a week but sure seemed longer), which I felt was a quick transition considering her former owner said she wouldn't eat canned at all.

Grooming is more of a challenge. She will let me comb her but won't let me comb her out completely before she's done .. and she will let you know with some lightning quick swats from her paw. She could be a world champion boxer with that speed! Any advice on her grooming would be appreciated.

Welcome and congrats on adopting your very first Persian! What is your new baby's name? From your description, she sounds like a tortoiseshell to me as they have patches of black, red and sometimes cream. Calicos have white in addition to the previous mentioned colors.

Looking forward to seeing her photos!

I can't believe I forgot to put her name in my marathon post. We've named her Sienna. One other thing I didn't mention, she is very funny about hands approaching her head. She comes to you as though she wants petting, but when you reach out she almost always pulls back and avoids a hand coming to her face. She lived with a toddler before and I wonder if she was hit in the face with a toy held by the young un. I will usually do a end run by skipping over her head and petting her back and sides, and then work my way back up her neck and she normally is okay with it.

Right now she doesn't seem overly affectionate and I'm not sure if it's because she's still unsure of her surroundings, that's her nature, or it's because she's still young and full of herself.

Anyways, thanks for the welcome.

Welcome and congrats on Sienna!!!

If she was around a toddler, yes, the head-shying makes sense. Once she is well settled, I would start trying to pet her head every once in a while. She needs to adjust her thinking and know that you will not hurt her. My reason is this: at some point you may have to medicate her or just groom her head and face.

My Isabel came from a toddler/young-child house and was head-shy and noise-averse. It's now 1.5 years and she's finally over both. She is learning that petting doesn't hurt, so she's even asking for it.

The way I see it is the cat wants the affection but is afraid it will be hurt. Your job is to help the cat understand that petting or being held won't be painful and is quite nice actually.

Here is a picture of Miss Sienna. It's a bit deceiving: her ears are actually much smaller in relation to her head than it looks and her eyes are copper, not golden like her left eye looks:

Sienna is beautiful!!! And she's definitely a tortie!

Yep, she's a tortie... pretty girl!

I LOVE that your couch cushions match your pretty new girlie!!!!!!!!!! She is lovely....

Welcome!!!

Miss Sienna is a very pretty kitty. I love her coloring. Thank you for adopting her.

Oh...Miss Sienna is so pretty!!
Welcome to the both of you to this
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Purrs,
Joan and Dolly