I don’t think I’ll ever get used to thinking of Sherbs as a “girl.”
Even the fact that I put the gender in quotes tells me that my thinking is clouded.
I’m acting as if he decided to undergo gender reassignment and I’m having difficulty accepting the idea.The truth is, of course, that we were just wrong about his gender.
It shows how strongly we identify gender with a person’s identity.
In nature, things are not so fixed many times.
I am amazed by animal species (hundreds) that undergo sex change as part of their life cycle (e.g., clownfish — think “Finding Nemo”).

Sherbet, of course, seems completely unfazed by this turn of events.
He is still “Sherbs.”

With the adoption of Opa, we wanted Sherbs to have a new office mate.
The candidate must be:

• FIV+
• Gentle with cats and people
• Very unlikely to jump the office gate

The obvious cat was Stafford, pictured above. He is an shabby old man who loves people and gets along with cats.

So far, friendship has not blossomed, but I am still hoping.
They have both demonstrated the ability to act as if each is the only cat in the room (world?).