A Boy Named Coco

 

Coco, our snowshoe Siamese cat, is a boy.  We adopted this beautiful creature from our local animal shelter when he was 8 weeks old.  He was found abandoned on a street corner when he was a couple of days old.

Visiting the Shelter

We went to our local shelter with the idea that we would adopt two female kittens.  So, when we arrived and made our choice known, the shelter’s employee showed us into the “kitten room” and said “they’re all female except that one,” pointing to Coco.  She left us alone to choose our kittens.

The “kitten room” was a glass-walled room about 8 feet by 10 feet.  There were food and water bowls, scratching posts, litter boxes, cat trees and kittens everywhere!  My husband stood in the corner leaning against a wall (there was no place to sit).  While I tried to catch a kitten to hold and bond with, Charlie stood passively by.  Kittens were scampering everywhere, just out of my reach and it was a circus of activity as I would reach and they would scram!

In the meantime, the one male kitten made a beeline over to Charlie, jumped on top of his tennis shoes purring and started playing with Charlie’s shoelaces.  I went over and picked up the purring fur ball and took him to the other side of the room saying, “we can’t bond with him; he’s a boy!”  Then, I would try to reach for one of the girls, who continued to elude my grasp.

As I was running circles chasing female kittens, the male kitten bounded back over to Charlie, jumped on his foot again and started batting at his shoelaces again; of course, purring loudly.  Again, I picked him up and moved him across the room.  Again, he bounded back and jumped on Charlie’s foot!  In exasperation, I picked him up, handed him to Charlie and said “well, you need to give up on the idea of having a female kitten.  This boy has chosen you and he wants to go home with us.  None of the girls will give us the time of day!  Sometimes, you have to accept that you’ve been chosen instead of you doing the choosing!”  Charlie laughed and agreed, holding the purring kitten close to his chest.  An hour later, we were home introducing the kitten to his new home.

 

Naming Our Kitten

What to name this special little guy, abandoned at birth, but so full of life?  While the female kittens were running away in fear, this gorgeous little kitten (he was the youngest, too; the female kittens were all 4 to 6 months old), was running towards us.  Since we were struggling with a name, we enlisted help from family members.

On the phone to nieces and nephews in another state, I mentioned that he was the color of hot chocolate – dark brown on his ears, nose, tail and feet (except for the four white paws) with a creamy beige body.  My nephew suggested “why don’t you name him Coco?”

“He’s a boy; you can’t name a boy Coco!”

“He’s a cat, Aunt Carole; he doesn’t care!”  How can you argue with that logic?

So, Coco it is.  But, I’m constantly correcting people who say “she”.

“What a pretty girl!”

“What a beauty she is!”

“Where is she?  Is she under the bed?”

“Coco’s a boy.  He was named by my nephew,” I respond.

The irony that a boy named Coco was named by a boy doesn’t escape me.

 

 

Tootles,

 

 

Related Posts:

(more posts about Coco or starring Coco)

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• And the Winner is…
• Attack of the Amazon Elves
• Easy Shamrocks and Leprechaun Centerpiece
• Emergency Planning Checklist (a Coco video)
• Herding Cats
• Making a Grocery List Clipboard with My Personal Assistant
• Orange Crush
• Sweet Baby James
• The Backup Plan
• The Blind Leading the Blind
• The Squish Factor