The newest member of the family

I am not a crazy cat lady but, in all honesty, I do not know if I could love anything more than my cat, Adobe. After watching the Disney classic, “The Aristocats,” I went to my mom with a random thought. “Do you know what would be cute? A white cat named ‘Duchess’,” I said. “Well, my friend from work has a cat with kittens,” she replied. “I think he said one was white.” My eyes widened, and my mom instantly regretted saying a word.

Of course, it took some charm and good reasoning to convince my mother to let me have a kitten. My mother’s main argument was we already had a cat. “Two cats are too much work,” she said. Yes, T.J. was very loving, but he never felt like my cat. He was my mom’s cat. I wanted an animal to call mine. An animal I can raise throughout its lifetime. I also argued T.J. was an old and overweight housecat. Therefore, why not give him company? Clearly, my mother could not counter my reasoning. Once the kitten was old enough, I picked it up and brought home the new member of the family.

When I tell people my cat’s name is Adobe, I love when they understand the reference. As a graphic designer, I work with the Adobe Creative Cloud programs. Not only is the name unique, but it relates to one of my passions. I also love showing Adobe to people because he is so beautiful. Unfortunately, I commonly hear, “She is a Siamese cat!” This can be irritating because there are two things wrong with this statement. 

First, Adobe is not a Siamese cat. Siamese cats have a distinct face and body shape. People tend to assume Adobe is a Siamese because of his coloring. He has a light coat with dark areas on his face, ears, legs and tail. This is known as “seal point” which is most highly associated with the Siamese breed. This is a recessive gene based on temperature. Therefore, the farthest points of the body are darkest. How Adobe received this gene is a mystery. His mother was a common tiger cat, and his brothers and sisters were tiger cats as well. I find this to make him very special.

Second, if you have not already guessed, Adobe is not a female. This leads to a funny story. The man we got Adobe from told us repeatedly Adobe was a female. I actually preferred a female kitten because I am a little biased toward female pets. Adobe was originally called Duchess for 20 hours before I got a good look at his rear end to discover he was definitely not female.

Through the four months we have had Adobe, we have fallen in love with him and his personality. Not many people can say their cat is not afraid of water! When he cuddles with you, it warms your heart and when he plays with toys, you could watch him for hours. I am joyful to call him mine.