The First and Last of the Catblogging

When I was in San Francisco the constant presence of dogs sparked in me a strong desire to have a pet. It was suggested to me by a friend that I might consider getting a girlfriend first, and then see if I still wanted a pet. I’ve dated a bit since I’ve been back in DC. I still wanted a pet.

This past week I adopted a cat from the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter in Alexandria. I’d wanted a cat when I was a kid but my mother was terribly allergic. She tells me I once suggested that she sleep in the yard so I could keep a cat in the house. I neither confirm nor deny this childhood memory. Needless to say, we had dogs growing up, and I consider myself a “dog person” if I’m forced to choose. If my living situation allowed I’d have a very, very large dog like a Great Dane or an Irish wolfhound.

The cat I adopted is three, largely Maine Coon with the breed-typical mid-length brown tabby coat and black tail. He’s personable to the point of neediness, though I suspect this due to a lack of human contact while in the shelter. Any time spent in my apartment not attending to him is, in his gold eyes, time misspent, and I’m soundly reprimanded for it. He forces his nose against my hand until I’ve scratched him about the head appropriately and will repeat this, switching hands, until he finally settles into a doze. This guided petting seems to be his activity of preference; toys, treats, scratching, and food are wholly secondary.

I named him Case, after William Gibson’s protagonists in Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition, male and female respectively. It seemed a fitting name given the androgyny of felines. My friends, meanwhile, have conspired to refer to the beast as Chairman Meow, or simply The Chairman.

I understand the grave responsibility that befalls any cat-owning blogger. I will not, henceforth, post about the cat again, save in passing or upon its eventual death. I will not post pictures of it. I will not share any cat-related “wisdom” that finds its way to me in the course of pet ownership. I will not be able to get the cat hair out of my laptop’s keyboard, ever.