Personal Essays
Of Course, He's Playful.
Of the last six cats we’ve owned, five of them already had names when we got them. Muss, Max, Scooter, Rocky and Jasmine are all fine names, but we didn’t choose them and I don’t supposed the cats did either. This time I decided to let the cat name himself. I figured that after a few days, his defining characteristic would become so obvious that it would be easy to give him a name based on who he actually was. So, we watched and waited.
As it turned out, he was the perfect cat. He found and used the litter box from day one, with never an accident or a mistake. After a bit of encouragement, he used the scratching post and the cardboard thingy instead of the furniture for sharpening his claws. For the first few days, he ate every bit of food we set out for him. I think he’d been on short and unpredictable rations for awhile before he came to our house. Once he realized that there would always be food available, he ate what he needed and left the rest for later. He played when we were home and slept when we were sleeping. He liked to play with fuzzy toys on a string and he’d bat a toy mouse around the living room for hours. If you sat down for awhile, he’d jump up in your lap and invite you to pet him while he purred with contentment. With only gentle persuasion, he quickly learned, most of the time, not to jump up on the dining room table and try to share the people food. In short, he was a house cat, well-behaved, affectionate, playful, perfect in every way. How do you describe a cat like that? The only word that would do was “quintessential,” and so that was to be his name. We called him Quint. He truly had named himself.
As it turned out, he was the perfect cat. He found and used the litter box from day one, with never an accident or a mistake. After a bit of encouragement, he used the scratching post and the cardboard thingy instead of the furniture for sharpening his claws. For the first few days, he ate every bit of food we set out for him. I think he’d been on short and unpredictable rations for awhile before he came to our house. Once he realized that there would always be food available, he ate what he needed and left the rest for later. He played when we were home and slept when we were sleeping. He liked to play with fuzzy toys on a string and he’d bat a toy mouse around the living room for hours. If you sat down for awhile, he’d jump up in your lap and invite you to pet him while he purred with contentment. With only gentle persuasion, he quickly learned, most of the time, not to jump up on the dining room table and try to share the people food. In short, he was a house cat, well-behaved, affectionate, playful, perfect in every way. How do you describe a cat like that? The only word that would do was “quintessential,” and so that was to be his name. We called him Quint. He truly had named himself.