Pippin at home in Great Falls. Photo contributed
My family has been blessed these past two years to have Pippin in our lives. She has brought so much joy to every member of the family just by her quiet, steady presence. I will never forget the day we first laid eyes on her. Having decided to adopt a cat, we attended an open house for rescue animals at PetSmart. My niece, Lauren, my nephew, Casey, and I were looking for that perfect cat that we could have an instant connection with…and it happened!
There was Pippin, a calico cat, in a tight cage with two other cats. As we watched the three cats, we became concerned when two of the cats, without any provocation whatsoever, started ganging up on Pippin. Despite the hissing, the biting, and the clawing, we watched with amazement as Pippin got up, stretched, and very calmly turned her back to the offending cats. As far as she was concerned, they did not exist. From that moment on she had us. We fell in love with her beautiful, calm, “Zen” personality. Immediately, we went to do the adoption paperwork. We were crestfallen to discover a woman ahead of us was also turning in an application for Pippin. We told the administrator that we very much wanted to adopt Pippin and that we had experience with cats having previously had two very special cats, who lived long, happy lives. The shelter lady, studied us, and then said the magical words: “If you want Pippin, she is yours. We give preference to experience.”
Later, we learned that Pippin had been in a South Carolina shelter that had the policy of euthanizing cats after they had been in the shelter for more than three days. We were told that the caretaker of the shelter did not have the heart to put Pippin down. Every day for three weeks, he would put his hand on her cage door but could not bring himself to euthanize her. He said that this had never happened to him before. Finally, he called Heart Rescue and pleaded with them to take Pippin even though he knew he could be fired for doing so. Heart Rescue came through and she was taken to a veterinarian who botched her neutering surgery resulting in a double hernia that required yet another operation. In spite of that ominous beginning, I am happy to say that our beautiful Pippin is now a healthy and energetic 2-year-old.
Pippin is a pet that comes along once in a lifetime. She is loving, smart and dependable. A few minutes before Casey's alarm goes off at 6 a.m. to go to school, she runs into his room and makes sure he is up by jumping on his bed. She waits for him to get dressed and follows him to the bathroom, waiting outside the door. She accompanies him down the stairs and waits while he eats his breakfast, then follows him to the door as he leaves for school. Then she spends most of the day sleeping on his bed! When Lauren and Casey return from school, Pippin is waiting for them on the stairs. As Lauren does her homework you can always find Pippin sitting on her lap or on her desk. Pippin is a cat who has wonderful timing, she knows when to enter a room, when to snuggle on your lap, when to ask for a tickle, when to entertain you with her acrobatic jumps, and when to ignore you. As I am typing this with one hand, Pippin is sitting on my lap purring. I know she knows I am writing about her. Where Pippin is concerned, the less she says, the more perfect she is!