Today is International Cat Day and as a proud parent to an adorable fur baby–yes that’s my precious Hemingway in the picture above–I thought of no better way to celebrate than by writing a post in his honor.
I found my previous cat, Alley Cat, as a stray when I was in high school. She was too small to be away from her mom and wouldn’t come out of the alleyway. Finally, after quite some time of calling for her and easing towards her, I was able to gain her trust and she was my spoiled baby from that moment on. She was the greatest cat a person could have. I taught her to give me hugs and even when I moved away to college, she would come running at the sound of my car in order to be waiting at the door to greet me. She recognized my voice over anyone else’s in my family and she loved to sleep by my head, exactly where she slept the first few months after I found her as tiny kitten.
A few days after Christmas in 2012, Alley Cat was brutally attacked by a dog and needed surgery to amputate her leg. Because of her age and weight (my girl was well fed) there were too many complications and she did not make it. I swore, then and there, that I would never have another pet. It took a while for me to remember that all of the joyful memories and loving moments with her outweighed the pain caused after losing her.
When my husband and I started tossing around the idea of getting a cat I wasn’t immediately convinced it was the best idea. Even though it had almost been a year since losing Alley Cat, I was still hurting. Animals truly become family and the loss of Alley Cat took a toll on me. Still, we would occasionally browse pet stores and animal shelter websites and play with the idea of getting a cat of our own. We put the idea on hold as we prepared for our wedding in September 2013, but by December, the idea resurfaced.
One day I was browsing a local animal shelter website, New Leash On Life, and saw a picture of a 5 month old kitten that made my heart stop. He was perfect. His coat was gray and white, and even though I swore I wouldn’t have a cat similar in color to Alley Cat, I just couldn’t stop looking at him. I knew, after one glimpse, that this was the cat I wanted. My loving husband went to the shelter, without my knowledge, and paid the deposit to adopt him. And by Christmas 2013, Hemingway became part of our family.
Why Hemingway you ask? well, the reason is pretty clear. He is polydactyl, meaning he has more toes than the average feline. He is special and it only took one quick glance at his headshot on the shelter website for me to realize that. It has almost been a year since we rescued Hemingway and I’m a firm believer in the question “Who rescued who?” He has taught me so much about myself, about my husband, and about being a parent. Yes, a parent. He is more like that a child than any other animal I have had and I attribute that to him eavesdropping on the conversations between my husband and I when we discuss the desires and concerns of having children. “They’ll break stuff,” I’ll say. So Hemingway begins breaking items on a weekly basis as if to build my tolerance. “They’re so precious though,” my husband will say. And Hemingway will cuddle my face off for the next week to show how precious he can be. “They’ll cry constantly and we won’t always know why,” I’ll say. And of course, Hemingway will cry when he’s locked out of the bathroom after drinking from the toilet and he’ll meow his head off for no apparent reason every single morning.
The lessons in parenting are invaluable and the similarities Hemingway shares with Alley Cat are as well. He nuzzles my neck, exactly like she did. He greets me at the door and plops down for a belly rub, exactly like she did. But my favorite similarities are that he gives me hugs exactly the way I taught Alley Cat without even being taught and he sleeps curled by my head in the same position she did. The biggest difference, Alley Cat hated dogs and sometimes Hemingway thinks he is a dog. Believe me when I say he cannot be trusted in a room with socks or straws. Although, it is rather heartwarming to watch him carry his favorite socks with him upstairs at bed time and back downstairs each morning.
Ernest Hemingway once said that “One cat leads to another,” and I couldn’t agree more. Despite my hesitations, I needed the caring, loving companionship only an animal can give. Although Hemingway cannot replace Alley Cat, he has pawed his way into my heart and taught me that a new pet isn’t meant to replace an old one. New pets simply reassure owners of the unfailing love animals have to offer. I may not be able to offer a mansion as a polydactyl cat sanctuary like Ernest Hemingway did with his house in Key West (if you’re a cat lover I highly recommend making a visit), but I can offer my heart to another cat, especially one as uniquely perfect as Hemingway.
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