chocolate love

When this little baby came to us, she was just about a year old.  Her name was Pandora.

We got her from a woman who was moving out of state and was begging for a new home for her cat.  What she didn't tell us was that the real reason she was moving without the cat was because the cat had a serious peeing problem.  As in she was totally indiscriminate about where she went.

By the time we figured this out, whithin a couple of days, it was too late.  We were already in love.  After about a year of grief and vast quanities of enzyme cleaner, she's now on a daily anti-anxiety medication that is making a huge difference in her behavior.  Yes, our cat is on prozac.  Don't laugh- it is better than having a house that stinks of cat pee!

We changed her name, too.  Pandora just seemed too serious, and she's kind of a goofy little cat.  She's actually a fairly normal-sized cat, but our other cat is so huge (17+ pounds of long-haired boy kitty) that in comparison she's dimunitive.  Practially out of thin air, we picked the name Widget.  It just fit.  Later on, out of curiousity, I looked up the definition of the word.  "A small and useless application," it means.  A software-industry technical term, probably homegrown right here in the Silicon Valley.  Lisa teases her about her name often.  "Widget, you are a small and useless application."  Imagine that crooned and punctuated with kissy noises.  I have to say that since getting used to Tiger on my Mac, I think that Widgets are small and terribly useful applications, but whatever.

In regular light, Widget is all black, with just a few white hairs on her chest and tummy.  But in the sunlight, she's a rich, dark chocolate.  Ganache, we could have named her.  Our little chocolate kitty.  She has a squeeky meow that we didn't hear for a long time.  It took almost a year for her to start talking to us, but now she talks often.  She makes the most pitiful little noise when there's less than a 1/4 cup of kibble in her bowl, like she's sure we are trying to starve her to death.  She's also quite cross-eyed, though she's an excellent hunter of bugs.  She's ruthless to mouse toys, and has shredded several of them.  She chases her tail in the bathtub, and will back up to you, tail straight up, when she's asking for pets.  She isn't interested in kitty treats, and can't figure out why Riley (the other cat) likes that chicken stuff he's always begging for.  She gets cold often, and seeks out sunbeams and laps as often as possible.  When we have a fire going she can often be found on the hearth, directly in front of it, whiskers practically sizzling in the heat.  She loves to sleep on a stool in front of the fireplace, too, and will meow when she is too warm and needs to be rotated.  And we do it, too!  She lets us know when it is time to go to bed, and won't settle until both of us are in the room.  If one of us tarries in the bathroom, she'll come and herd us into the bedroom.  She sleeps at our feet all night long, riding the waves of our sleeping movement.

I started receiving a French-word-of-the-day email yesterday, and the first word was "truc".   It means "thing" or "thingamajig".  That would have been a great name for her, too.  I love this little girl, and I'm so glad we opened our lives and hearts to her.

Comments

[kristi]

How stinkin cute! I can't believe that there is Prozac for kitties...but hey, as long as you don't have to deal with that AWFUL smell. Widget is a great name, way cooler than Pandora.

[Jennine Dureau]

So nice to hear about Widget even though I have already met her, know her. Hearing her story again and all the lovely, warm things she does to be a part of your family is very heart-warming. It makes me want a kitty and I'm a dog person! Ha! Maybe one of each....someday...when I have the property and the schedule.....Thanks for the lovely story.

[browse]

Perhaps Pandora was an appropriate name after all. As I recall, the original Pandora didn't use the box correctly either.

[kristen]

it's so nice that you are taking care of this special kitty. mine has a sleu of issues for a 2-year-old stray, but i believe it's people like us that make a difference. props!

[Celine Navarro]

This cat is GORGEOUS!

[niki]

It sounds like Pandora has found a wonderful home. She is beautiful adn I love the after thought name Ganache (YUM!) perhaps you could adopt it as a middle name. I once had a kitty with a peeing problem and a friend of mine had 2 with the same problem. It turned out all 3 had Cystitis which is a very painful urinary problem. Your story reminded me of this, I hope your kitty doesn't have this and is just nervous.