My husband and I share our home with our kitty Issy- that is Isabella Sunshine Conchita Little Havana Brown Chantilly Molen- and if you have had the "privilege" of meeting her you know she is every bit of that long name!!
When we met Issy at our local pet shelter 13 years ago, we knew immediately that she was to become part of our family. If you have ever adopted a pet from a shelter you know that it can be a pretty disruptive transaction. They are examined by a staff member and then spayed, vaccinated, micro-chipped and put into a cardboard carrier.
Our precious 7 month old kitty was quite shaken at the prospect of being put into this strange container and whisked away in a car. She started crying and then proceeded to chew away at the little air holes in the box. At one point, we noticed that she was frantically flailing her little black paws through the holes. It was then that my husband, Mark, started singing to her…You are My Sunshine…she calmed right down and sat quietly the rest of the way home!
That is when we realized Issy’s love of music, or to be more exact, her love of that song! We find that when we are looking for her, if we whistle that tune she comes running. And to get her to eat, we sing that song to her; yes, that is the only way she will eat. Thank goodness when we travel, Issy’s caretaker is not opposed to whistling that happy tune for our girl! We have found that it is her comfort song; and it really, truly bonds us. When we start singing to her, she will join in and sing along with us!
Most everyone has heard of a cat’s sixth sense, Issy proves this when she runs to the door 5-10 minutes before Daddy arrives home…the clincher here is that we live in a high-rise building and the garage entrance is on the other side of our building! There is no way she can hear or see him approaching. Issy will jump up and want to go sit in our hallway to wait for Daddy. Now that is impressive intuition!
Did you know that in Asia and the U.K, owning a black cat is considered lucky? We consider ourselves very lucky to share our home with our darling, Issy. No bad luck here; just lots of love and sunshine!
