Hi there, it’s Mom. Today I am going to talk about the wonderful encounter with Zoe.
Me and Dad are cat lovers. We have been thinking about having a cat or two since long time ago. We dropped in at the pet shops and visited the websites of cat shelters to find the right one.
One day in December in 2017, I had a memorable encounter with a cat at a pet shop. She was jumping around in a room. She was a lovely “Mike” kitten with three-colored hair. She looked innocent and artless, like quite a little lady. Her wild unkept hair looked somewhat ambivalent, increasing the sweetness of hers.
<NOTE> In Japan pet shops are still one of a major means to find a pet. The Act to secure welfare and good management of animals was issued in 2019 and enforced in 2020. This Act makes the pet shops and breeders to sell the animals which are at least over 56 days old. This Act is effective for the ones which are in the higher classes than amphibians.
I sat down and looked the kitten through the glass wall. The three-colored “furball” found me, jumped to me, and started playing with my finger. I was surprised to know she had such a good vision to find my finger through the glass wall. I was also surprised to see how friendly she is. She then went back to her bed and sat down on it blissfully. My heart was stolen by her at that moment!
On my way coming back home by a car, I kept thinking of her. “Wow she was such a sweet baby.” It was now a part of good memory that I was about to hit my car to a telephone pole; I was thinking her too much to focus on driving safely 😉
I left a letter to “Dad the Santa Claus,” saying she was quite a cute kitten and I want him to go to the shop with me to see her. Dad got interested, and I took him there a few days later. I had him go there while I looked for a parking space. When I caught up with him, he looked to be zoned out in front of the glass wall. I talked to him “What’s the matter, Hon? Did you see the kitten?” He told me that she sat small and quietly on the top of the cat tower and waited for him to come closer. I understood he was also charmed by her!
We noticed that a few people standing close to us were interested in her. So we made up the mind. We quickly listed up the items needed for her- food, a bed, a blanket, a unit of toilet, a carry case, a few kinds of toys… We decided to use the dishes at home for food and water for now. We also asked the clerk the other items we need. I can never forget the pleasant and exciting moment that we decided to welcome her to our family!
The first thing we did after coming back home with the kitten was to feed her. We soaked the food into warm water and gave it to her, as the clerk taught to us. Zoe was jumping around here and there, but when she started to eat, she looked up Dad anxiously as if she did not know whether the food was for her or not. I felt a little pain in my mind and could not repress my tears.
“Baby, I understand how you are anxious, but we are your Dad and Mom now, we love you and will take good care of you all through your life.” That was my inner voice, but me and Dad shared quite the same feeling. Zoe started to sleep in my arms after the meal. She must have been tired to have lived in such a big day. Indeed it was the only occasion that Zoe fell in somebody’s arms.
BTW, “Zoe” is my favorite name. It is a girl’s name with Greek origin, meaning “life.” I met this name from a French girl. Our Zoe has diaeresis (¨) on top of “e.” Me and Dad also considered about “Amber,” “Tuesday,” and “April” for her name, but decided to name her Zoe because we both liked the meaning.
Since Zoe became a part of our family, the life has been going around her. Both me and Dad have sometimes got scolded by her when we came back home late. In that case Zoe used to tilt her head to the left, looked us up as if she said “Where were you going until such a late night? I was waiting for you long!” That action was so cute and we wanted to see that kind of her face again. But since then, we started to try to come home as early as possible.
Zoe also used to stay on my chest when I was watching TV. While she was doing so, I was not able to start cooking and Dad had to wait for dinner. She used to be playful and preferred playing to eating when she was a baby, which made me worried. Four years have passed in this way, with mixed feeling of happiness and anxiety.
Zoe has grown up without illness or injury until today. Me and Dad think it was a miracle that we were able to meet her. Thank you, Zoe, for coming to our home. We love you!