Well, as some of you may remember I posted back in July that Mittens, my cat for 13 years passed away. He was having seizures and we think he had a stroke. I had found him on someone's doorstep while selling tickets for my sister's baby pageant in 1993. Their cat had kittens and they were giving them away. So we took one. He was the sweetest cat I've ever known. Even people that saw him that weren't cat people or disliked cats always said he was cool. He was much more friendly than most cats and was actually affectionate and would follow me around the house like a dog. His death was completely unexpected so it was hard to take. I miss him.
Here's Mittens:
Mittens hanging out with Penny, my brother's Dalmatian.
In September I helped pass out flyers for
2124, a new residential building going up in East Austin. My friend and I past out flyers at apartment complexes. All of them had cats, and almost all would run away as I walked up. But there was one that didn't. And I could hardly believe my eyes. This cat looked so much like Mittens, like he could be related to him somehow, color, size, markings, it was uncanny. I reached down and called him over, he was laying down on someone's patio. He walked through the bars up to me and I petted him for a minute. I had only lost Mittens the month before, so seeing this cat that looked so much like him was strange. I went on my way and put out the rest of the flyers. Later that day and that night I couldn't get that cat out of my mind. I told my family how much he looked like Mittens. On a hunch that the cat was a stray we went back to try and find him and ask around if anyone owned him. I asked the guy that lived at the apartment where I first saw him if they owned him, he said "No". I asked 6 or 7 people around there if they owned him or if they knew who did. They all said he was just a stray and that there were a lot of them around. So I started looking for him but couldn't find him at first. Then out of the blue there he was. He came right up to me. I had given it some thought though about would I really want another cat so soon, just a month and a half after losing Mittens. This cat also looked so much like him that I actually thought it might be too weird or that it would somehow be disrespectful to Mittens' memory. And I thought that getting another cat so soon and that looked so much like Mittens might lessen the loss of him and I didn't want that. I didn't want to try to fill some hole. In the end I knew that I would get another cat sooner or later and that this cat needed a home. So I decided to adopt him. We took him home. I named him Jules. He's a nice cat, he's sweet. He's still adjusting to my dog, a bit afraid of her, but he'll be ok. I'm glad I found him.
So 13 years ago I found Mittens by going door to door selling tickets to a baby pageant for my sister, and 13 years later while going door to door passing out flyers for a residential building in East Austin, I found Jules who looks almost identical to my first cat.
Jules: