The Tomcat

Jennifer Vanderau
Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter

(5/2022) Lying on Mom’s bed in the sun today, I realized I’m one of the lucky ones.

My name is Winchester because my mom loves some show on television that she goes on and on about with these two guys who drive some car from the 60s and she found me at the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter.

I’d been there for a while by the time Mom came through the doors. I’m just an old tomcat. I’ve been on the streets for most of my life. When someone found me and brought me to the shelter, I figured it had to be some kind of cosmic joke.

Here’s the thing. I’m not pretty. Never have been. I know this. I’ve got scars and scabs and I’m just a dull gray color. Even my fur isn’t the best. It’s not soft or luxurious or ever will be.

I had a hard couple of years on the streets, so when the staff at the shelter set me up in a cage with food and water and a warm blanket and scheduled me for surgery, I was seriously waiting for the punchline.

I know what I am and I know what I’m not – and I am not the kind of cat anyone would want to come home to.

At least that’s what I thought.

People have been mean to me all my life. I’ve been doused in water, kicked by boots, swatted at with a broom and (my personal favorite) shot with a paintball gun. It took a long time to get that purple color off my fur. It tasted terrible, too.

I remember looking around the shelter at all the other cats preening for attention and I laughed to myself. Yeah, like anyone would even give me a second glance. No way.

But she did.

It was a random Tuesday when Mom walked in. I barely picked my head up. I’d gotten into a nice schedule of napping after breakfast and even when people walked through the cat adoption area I knew better than to think for a second that they would ever look at me.

With Mom it was different. She not only looked, she actually stopped in front of my cage. I stretched a little bit, but curled back up to continue with my nap.

I think she may have whispered something like, "Playing hard to get, are you? That’s cool. I like a challenge."

She rubbed her fingers between my eyes and when I exhaled, I will admit, I purred a little.

The next thing I knew she was taking me to some place the humans call a bonding room and we were getting to know each other. I didn’t perform any tricks. She tried with the toys, but when you’ve spent most of your life attempting not to get killed by stray animals or cars or humans, somehow a stuffed mouse on a string doesn’t really do it for you. You know what I mean?

Oddly enough, Mom wasn’t discouraged, and by the time I realized she had filled out the adoption paperwork, I had pretty much figured the whole thing was some kind of anomaly and chalked it up to a full moon or something.

The day she took me to her home and showed me all the cat beds and incredible blankets and more of those ridiculous mouse toys, I seriously thought I was dreaming. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to an old beat-up tomcat. It just doesn’t.

When she put me on her bed that first night and draped the covers over me and kissed me on my head, I purred the entire eight hours we were there. No joke. I hadn’t purred that long in my entire life.

It was the best night of sleep I ever had.

Now Mom snuggles me just about every day and tells me I’m a Supernatural cat, which seems bizarre, but I let it slide because being in her arms is hands-down the greatest experience of my nine years on this planet.

She jokes around that we’re going to get married some day and I have no idea what it means, but the laugh she huffs against my fur when she says it makes me purr even louder.

I may not be able to understand how this happened, but I will be grateful for every, single day I have with her.

So I’m lying in bed – Mom left for work a few hours ago – and the sun is warming the whole area and everything smells like Mom and I can’t get over how different my life is from what it’s been.

I know it’s because of her.

And because of everyone at the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter.

*****

Jennifer Vanderau is the Publications and Promotions Consultant for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and can be reached at cvascomm@cvas-pets.org. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at 717-263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org. CVAS also operates a thrift store in Chambersburg, Pa. Help support the animals at the shelter by donating to or shopping at the store.