Steven the Palomino Tabby
“My cat, Steven, is a large (but not fat) 10 year old Palomino tabby.
In August 2021 my 17 year old cat, Paddy, died suddenly. He was the last of six cats my late wife Suzy and I had lived with, who came to us as rescues over the years between 1997 and 2008 – the year of Suzy’s passing.
I was devastated. For months I did not know if I wanted to live with another cat.
In November 2021 my friend Bettina Solas noticed a local Facebook post about a cat who needed a new home. His human, Julie, was in hospital and headed to extended rehab, possibly never returning home. Sadly that turned out to be the case.
Friends of Julie’s had been caring for Steven at her flat but he was lonesome; he’d been living there by himself for nearly two months, and they realised they had to plan for his possible rehoming.
Bettina, a good friend of me and my cats for several years, contacted me. She knew I wasn’t ready, but she also knew it was probably time. I tentatively agreed, and arranged to meet Steven. We got along nicely after a couple of visits; he was in decent health but needed a bit of love and care.
Julie’s future was still uncertain, so I proposed that I foster him until everyone knew whether she was coming home. Her friend, Pam, gratefully agreed, and I brought him home on 12th November. He had a nervous first five days, then something actually rather spooky happened.
There was a pillow on my couch that Paddy had habitually called his own, and while Steven gradually began to sit on the couch beside me, he resolutely refused to approach this pillow.
One afternoon he was sleeping next to me, when he suddenly awoke – alert as if he’d heard some sound I had not. He turned to look at a large photo of Paddy that hangs on my wall. He stared at it for a moment, got up and stepped over and onto Paddy’s pillow.
Steven looked at the photo again, and at me, then settled down and went back to sleep. It was genuinely unnerving.
Ever since that day he has acted completely at home here, and we have been close trusting friends and family for the past three years.”
Robert Marcum
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