Mosaic relaxing on a heated cat bed.

Mosaic just seemed like a good name for a little tortoiseshell. It's also a genetic term that applies to some tortoiseshells, though not to her specifically.

Other names considered:  None.  

She goes by her name, though we called her Stick Kitten now and again when she was a baby and was going through a "tall and skinny" stage.

Mosaic is our second blue tortoiseshell (Molly Maguire being the first). Unlike her sister Flynn, she's short-haired. She's very solid and muscular and weighs 11 pounds, 5 ounces (5.1 kg) - over two pounds more than her sister - even though they're the same length and Flynn is somewhat taller.

Her eyes are a striking orangey-greenish color.

She sounds like a dog's squeaky toy when she does talk, which is not that often. When she really gets into playing, she runs around the house making a half-meowing, half-growling noise to herself.

Mosaic has the loudest purr of all our cats. It's quite nice and rumbly and one many occasions, she's been purring on the far side of the living room and I've heard her from the downstairs bedroom, which is quite a ways away.  All it takes to get her going is to talk to her. She likes to make biscuits on her sister but only occasionally on people. When she was little, she often nursed on her sister, leaving large soggy patches on her fur.

Same as Flynn's: My husband's sister found a pregnant, orange, stray kitty in February of 2009. Around February 22, she produced four little ones: three girls and a boy. We aren't sure of the exact date of their birth, since mama disappeared for a while to have them.

Our intention was to wait until the babies were weaned, then adopt one. Sadly, mama kitty was killed by a coyote when her babies were four weeks old, so our plans changed a bit. We took two girls (Flynn and Mosaic) and my husband's parents took the remaining girl and the boy and we all bottle-fed kittens for a while. Click here to see pictures of the other two siblings, Sheba and Leo.

Mosaic is often sweet and cuddly, but she's also a bit of a punk and is absolutely psycho when playing. She tends to seek out both people and the big cats frequently, but if no one is up to playing with her, she happily plays by herself. She's gotten the snot slapped out of her by a number of the older cats, as she tends to be a bit obnoxious about challenging them.

She is given to fits of affection, particularly when people are trying to sleep, and frequently stomps all over us and purrs in the middle of the night. Recently, she has discovered the joy of sitting in laps and won't stay out of mine. She also enjoys jumping onto my back when I lean over to sweep up litter or pick something up, and if I let her, she'll curl up there for quite a while.

Eosinophilic keratitis. See details. 

Like her sister, she will play with almost anything. At the moment, her favorite playthings are molted feathers from our geese and a small, fuzzy, red, white, and black puffball toy. Often, she runs through the house at top speed, growling to herself, until she starts panting, which she evidently finds entertaining.

She mostly plays with her sister, but often plays with Calypso and now and then with Solentiname. She really likes Molly Maguire (Mold), perhaps because the two look so much alike, but she has a major crush on Dubh and often seeks him out for cuddling.

She wasn't scared at first, but changed her mind later and now runs from it.