Cats and Completion

[piasharn]

I've heard it said that your blog isn't complete until you have posted pictures of your cats.

While I did publish some photos of my first cat upon her death, I have not yet shown any images of the two feline companions who have accompanied me these past few years.

The sleek, grey male in the foreground is Musashi, while fuzzy, brown female beyond him is Natasha.

A year or so after my first cat died, my sister was working at a pet supply store. The company had an arrangement with the local Humane Society - they would take cats or kittens that had a good chance of being adopted, up to six at a time, and keep them at the store. Since a large number of people came into the store on a regular basis, the cats had a better chance of getting adopted. Also, unlike the ones at the Humane Society, they would remain there until someone took them in; they would not be euthanized after a period of time.

My sister told me about a cat that had come in - the humane society had dubbed him 'Mushy' - that she thought would be a good match for me. He was shy, horribly so, and needed a quiet environment with one-on-one attention. I was still mourning Pudd Tat (laugh all you want, but that cat was more kind and loving than many people I've known, and I'm not ashamed that I still mourn her absence in my life) and wasn't sure if I wanted another cat just yet.

Well, some time passed, and Mushy had not been adopted. He wouldn't be returned to the Humane Society, but he might be transferred to another branch of the company. So I went ahead and bit the bullet and adopted him and Natasha (more on her below).

The poor boy probably spent at least a week hiding under my bed. I used to lay down on the floor and stretch an arm out towards him and talk to him. Not trying to get to him or anything. Just to let him get used to my scent and voice and presence. He has since become an extremely loving and affectionate friend.

I didn't care for the name 'Mushy' too much, but by the time I had adopted him, it had stuck. So I thought a bit and eventually named him 'Musashi'. I figured that I could use 'Mushy' (although I respelled it as 'Mushi') as a nickname. I've heard it used before in anime and manga, so I know it's a real Japanese name/word (at least I hope it is), although I have no clue what it means. Neither Google nor my Japanese dictionary has been any help, so I hope it doesn't mean anything too silly.

As I mentioned above, my sister had alerted me to Mushashi's presence. I had been going back and forth on whether or not I should adopt him for some time. When my sister told me that he might be moved to another store, I went in to visit him and decide once and for all whether or not I would take him in.

Obviously, I did. However, while I was there, I met one of the other cats who was up for adoption. The Humane Society had called her 'Franny', although I never felt that the name suited her at all. She was almost the polar opposite of Musashi in both appearance and personality. While he was quiet and shy, she was talkative and outgoing. His fur is sleek and gracefully patterned with swirls and stripes, hers is a fluffy hodgepodge of various shades. His features are refined and genteel; she looks like she ran headfirst into a brick wall.

She is one of those cats that are so ugly that they are beautiful. The hairy ears, muttonchop sideburns, squashed face, scowling brows, tufted toes, all held together with the fluffy, brindle-colored fur that made her look twice her size. The first time I picked her up, she collapsed into my arms like a ragdoll, purring so hard that her entire body vibrated.

So I came home with two cats instead of the one I had planned on.

Unlike Musashi, she remained nameless for quite a while. I didn't care for 'Franny' as a name. I eventually settled on 'Natasha' because it has always been a name that I have been fond of. Besides, it seemed to suit her somehow.

Unlike Musashi, she settled right in. While Musashi is definitely one of those cats who attaches himself exclusively to one person (much like Pudd Tat had done), Natasha loves anyone and everyone and can make herself comfortable anywhere. Including a moving vehicle, as I discovered while moving from Michigan to California.

So those are my babies, and how our lives came to intersect. I've been laughed at before for my love of animals, and I'll certainly be laughed at many more times for it over the course of my life. Still, I'm extremely grateful for their presence in my life.

Comments

[hiyami.livejournal.com]

Laughed at for your love of animals? How come?

Animals, unlike humans, give back what you give them. If you make them part of your family, they will return just as much love to you and more.
Funnily, the people I know who don't understand attachment to animals are the ones who treat them as little more than furniture anyway.

I can't see the pictures though. Where are they hosted?

[piasharn.livejournal.com]

The images are hosted on LJ... I seem to have marked them 'private' rather than 'public', whick is why they didn't show up for you. I've reset them, so they should be visible now. Let me know if you still have problems viewing them.

"Laughed at for your love of animals? How come?"

Because I treat animals as though they were people. To a lot of my former coworkers and classmates, animals are inferior, disposable beings. Trust me, their laughter doesn't bother me in the slightest.