Smokie

Sympathetic Imagination

Smokie was a new cat to Austin Pets Alive. Coming from a shelter, like many of the other dogs and cats at APA, not much is known about his past. Taking from my experiences with him, I’m going to interpret how I think his story may have gone and how he felt throughout the events that lead him to APA.

Hi my name is Smokie. I am five years and one month old, and I am looking for a new home. Many humans that pass by call me cute probably because I like to greet them with the adorable maneuver called “lick the paw”. This always prompts more praise. Something you need to know about me is that I am a big sucker for a good scratch. If you start scratching behind my ears or under my belly, I am at your mercy. I also like to play with other cats, especially my friend Simba. Simba and I share two little compartments, so that we can hang out together. We often wrestle and play with each other’s toys. However, I haven’t been at APA my whole life. How about I tell you my story.

Long ago, my friend, Simba, and I were adopted by a family who wanted some kittens. I felt so loved. Everyone wanted to play with the new kittens and I felt like I was a celebrity. We would jump on the children and play with them: always laughing and giggling. But as time passed, Simba and I began to grow up, and we didn’t seem as cute and cuddly to the humans as we did when we were younger. When we jumped on the children, we were shoved off and scolded. Nothing seemed good enough for them now. Eventually, they began to forget about us, and then call us burdens whenever they remembered that we were still there. Finally, they abandoned us. I don’t know why it happened or what we did to be deserted like that. Why would they take us in just to give up on us with no one else to go to?

“Strange smells, strange sounds. Alone without you beside me.”² Simba and I were on our own. We traveled the streets for a few days with no food, no shelter, and no love. By the time some humans found us and took us to a shelter, we were malnourished. The cute kitty look had vanished leaving us fur-covered skeletons. Who could love us now? After we were fed and given a roof over our heads we began to recover, but our hearts were still shattered. As I look around the shelter, I notice other animals, like me, mistreated, abandoned, betrayed, and heartbroken. Some spirits crushed, others seem to find some will to fight on. For what? I did not know. My owners were gone; there really is nothing else to look to. I continued with this attitude until I saw one of the dogs in the shelter, that still had hope, get taken in by a new human family. This idea of being able to join a new family revived my spirits. I now have hope for a better future. There was another factor counteracting this because animals were also disappearing, not to families, but to death. Time passed, and Simba and I got closer and closer to the needle of death that we saw other dogs and cats go to. At the last minute Austin Pets Alive found Simba and I. They took us in because they think we have a good chance at being adopted. Relieved that we were able to make it away alive, we could now be ecstatic about our second chance.

Now Simba and I wait for someone to come get us. I want a nice family that will play with me every day and just be there to take care of me. I’m very versatile and calm so I believe that I can adapt to any household situation. I just need a human to love and one to love me back. I wait in my little box with glass so you can see me. I am confined all day watching the passer-byes. Every once in a while, someone will take me out and play with me. Yet, nobody has taken me to my forever home where I can be comfortable and live with my family. Hopefully, that time is soon and I will be forever happy.

Personal Impact

This was a very interesting assignment for me. I was really looking forward to the assignment and helping an animal get adopted. I have a soft spot for animals that were abandoned and end up a shelter. Although I was excited, I was also very apprehensive about doing a bio on cats because I am allergic. Being allergic to cats, I’m never quite sure how I’m going to react around them. I took allergy shots for four or five years so I shouldn’t be too bad around them now, but I’m still more of a dog person. Being a dog enthusiast, about a year ago, I was going around from shelter to shelter, in order to find a dog to adopt. I remember reading hundreds of bios and watching many videos. I thought it would be very rewarding to help contribute to these animals and help write a bio.

When I visited the shelter I was shocked to find the difference between the shelters that I visited when looking for dogs, and the cat shelter. I was surprised how contained the cats were in comparison to many of the dog shelters I visited. Dogs were able to run free in the yard and play while the cats, at APA, were contained in their little boxes. Maybe most shelters aren’t free roaming like the ones I visited because they were more trained towards Australian shepherds over more household dogs. I really felt bad for the cats because I couldn’t ever function being contained in such a tight space. I can hardly stand staying inside my house because I’d much rather be outside playing with my dog, swimming, or some other activity. I can only imagine how an animal would feel being contained in, maybe, a 4ft square area. Also with the amount of cats that were at APA I feel like it would be hard to provide the attention needed for each cat. Every pet owner knows that a pet requires a lot of attention, so I feel bad for the cats that lay around every day without even a scratch. A shelter is just a place where an animal can survive, not where they can live. Animals need a home.

“Life is a mirror, and everything around us is here to teach us, if we are willing to look into it.”³ Sympathetic imagination is a way to look into this mirror of life. When I used my sympathetic imagination to look through Smokie’s eyes, I could see an untold story. The words that come to mind are: empathy, betrayal, confusion, and depression. I feel empathy for Smokie, betrayal from a previous family, confusion to why he’s abandoned, and depression for the abandonment. It is really hard not to feel for every single cat in the shelter. I can’t go to shelters because I feel as if I need to adopt every single animal and I feel bad that I can’t take care of them. I want to adopt them all because they all need homes. I did feel like I failed to fully capture the emotional state of the Smokie because of my reservation toward cats. I just have never grown up as a cat person. If someone were to give me a dog, I can fully love everything about it immediately but when someone has a cat, alarms start flashing in my head. I just don’t give them the fair chance they deserve because I was really allergic to them as a child, so I wasn’t able to connect to them as emotionally as I would like. With that said, I did enjoy my time playing with Smokie. It was a lot of fun picking up and playing with him because he was really affectionate toward me. He was one of the best cats I have ever been around: very social and comfortable. Most cats I see keep their distance while I keep mine. I feel like this project did help me feel a little closer to cats. I’m not quite as timid as I would usually be around cats, although I am still met with many sneezes.

Overall, I just want all animals to find a home where they are loved and cared for. Animals don’t deserve to be abandoned and left behind because their life becomes without meaning. Like the poem “Cracked” where the dog, after being taken in had “more to his life than light under a crack.”⁵ I hope that the rest of the animals in APA can find more to their lives rather than sitting in a shelter waiting.

Smokie

Cute-Affectionate-Playful

A mixture of brown, black, white and grey make up the smoky coat of the tabby cat. The cat, who is properly named “Smokie,” is a people’s cat – demanding the attention of everyone in the room. He mastered getting attention. Whether it was by brushing his coat across the calves of your legs or just laying on the ground in an inviting position – he always received the rubs and scratches he was looking for.

Not only did Smokie get along well with humans, but also with his neighboring cats. Smokie shares his territory at the shelter with his best friend, Simba. Simba and Smokie were brought into the shelter together and have been inseparable ever since. In their free time they enjoy wrestling and playing with toys. I observed that they were most comfortable around each other and, together, behaved very well around other cats.

Smokie is very playful, however, he sometimes expresses a very calm nature. This alternate side of tranquility and patience exemplifies that he would be a great addition to a family because he would behave well around children. When introduced to new people, he is warm and inviting. His versatile personality allows him to adapt well to any situation – including various household situations.

Smokie is the cat you’ll fall in love with within seconds. Offering you entertainment, love and companion ship all you have to give him in return is a home. Give him a home and let him change yours for the better.

All APA! Foster cats are litter box trained, tested for FeLV/FIV, neutered, vaccinated, treated for worms/fleas, microchipped and come with a 30-day health insurance plan.

If you have additional questions about Smokie, please send an email to adopt@austinpetsalive.org.

1. Photo of Smokie and Simba by Horse.

2. Ethics, Leadership, Animals, ed. by Jerome Bump, (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding 2011), 652.

3. Photo of Butterfly Null and Smokie by Horse.

4. Charles Lüttichau, Animal Spirit Guides(New York: CICO, 2009),9.

5. Photo of Black Bear petting Smokie by Horse

6. “Cracked,” In Ethics, Leadership, Animals, ed. by Jerome Bump, (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding 2011), 655.

Words with quotes:1506

W/O quotes:1467

*Bio not included in either count

Smokie Bio: http://www.austinpetsalive.org/adopt/available-cat-details/?ID=14234603

Smokie Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax-IU36KTeI