Zen the Cat

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This is the story of Zen... that's the name we gave to our rather mellow cat.


Picking out Zen

We tend to get cats from shelters. And about a year after we lost our other cat, Scotty (since he was a Scottish Fold), we decided to go cat shopping. So a quick visit and my wife was looking at kittens, but the shelter was recommending we get two since they were siblings, and so on. Yeah, I get that cats can benefit from some like-kind socialization, and we've have cat pairs before. But we weren't looking to jump in and get two... and cats are sort of like russian roulette: you never know what you're going to get. And they live long enough that it's a lot of obligation. So two cats doubles the odds of get Kitty-Satan, all wrapped in fur, fangs and claws.

I suggested we look at some more mature cats, as we might know more about what we were getting. And while walking on that side of the shelter, one little cat saw me, got up, came to the front of the cage and started pawing the glass for me to pet/play with it. So we got the attendant and said we wanted to meet that one.

They put us in a room, and the lady came in with the cat, and read the paperwork, and said, "this one was separated because she's very skittish and not very people friendly". And she put her down. The cat trotted over to me, rolled over on my feet and exposed her tummy for a rub, which I cautiously gave her. (Some cats throw out the invite, only to shred you for taking it). Not Zen, she closed her eyes and was in kitty heaven. I picked her up and she went completely limp, happy to be held. The attendant watching this exchange was sitting slack jawed, and was looking back and forth between the paperwork and what it said, and what she just saw. (This was not a shy and timid cat -- at least with me).

So we picked her. They said she was over a year old and was just a small cat. Yeah. They lied. I think based on how much she grew, she was at about 6 months or something. But we put her in the cage and took her home. Instead of mewing she quietly curled up in the carrier and went half to sleep (eyes open, a little bored and meditative). That's when we named her: my wife asked "what should be call her", after commenting on how much better she travelled than any of our other cats had. I replied, "she's pretty Zen... and that's what we should call her". We waited a few days to see if it fit... and it did.

She adopted to the new house in less than a day. And wanted to be in the room with me from day-1. But we locked her out of bedrooms at night, and she was fine with that. (No scratching). She wouldn't jump on furniture. I don't know what kind of training they had done before we got her, but if you picked her up and put her on the couch, she would jump off, and sleep at your feet on the floor.

Tales of a Princess

Mute Couch crimes

Shopping bag.

Drinking like a queen.

Pictures

Zen : 2 items


Written 2018.06.25