The Cat Came Back: Our New Baby

(Last Updated On: November 9, 2019)

It’s been a couple of years since we lost our beloved 17 year old black American Shorthair cat, “Stinky” Mezinke.

I swore I’d never get another pet. Stinky was about perfect. The most perfect cat I’d ever had since my childhood cat “Baby”.

Stinky sat at my side, purring and providing company, through two pregnancies on complete bedrest. He’d jump between my husband and I if we argued, and meow loudly at us to shut up. He never hurt a fly (or a mouse even) and he put up with multiple moves, several dogs and four un-gentle toddlers. Stinky was a saint.  An impossible act to follow.

This past February, however, I started having guilt pangs about my kids petless state. Pets were such a big part of my childhood. The unconditional love…Having a pet to snuggle on a bad day, when nobody understands you…

If I admitted it to myself, I was missing it too. My daughters are heading into the torture -your-mom teen years. My sons are heading into what I like to call the booger and butts phase.  I love them all dearly despite this, but it’s a world of pain, I tell you!  We all needed a cat. For our sanity.

But not a black cat. Despite the fact that I feel strongly that everyone should adopt black cats if possible ( they are the last to find homes from a shelter), I couldn’t look at any of the black cats without comparing them to Stinky. Same ears, different eyes. Same eyes, shorter tail. Etc.

I spent three weeks trolling Petfinder. I paid multiple visits to local shelters.

Finally, ready to give up,  I decided that I was only getting a cat if it was a White Persian like my childhood cat Baby. But it had to have one blue eye and one green eye, so it wasn’t too much like Baby. Because that would be weird. I thought I’d be let off the hook this way. That I could finally stop looking. What were the odds. The next day, this cat showed up on Petfinder:

Not only was she exactly what I described, but her name was Baby Doll. Here is a picture of me and my childhood cat Baby.

We have actually renamed our new family pet “Hello Kitty”. She’s adjusted beautifully and we’re all so glad to have a cat again. It’s a little thing, but our house feels like a home again, now that we have a pet again. We still miss Stinky, but we like to think that he’d approve.