It’s a
pleasure and a delight to welcome my friend, fellow blogger, cat expert and
author Ingrid King to Thoughts in Progress today to talk about one of the joys
in her life – tortoiseshell cats.
Ingrid has
just released a new book, TORTITUDE: The Big Book of Cats with a Big Attitude. It’s a fascinating book I review here last Wednesday.
Please
join me in giving Ingrid a warm welcome as she joins us to talk about her “Love
Affair with Tortoiseshell Cats.” Welcome, Ingrid.
I’ve been
owned by tortoiseshell cats, affectionately known as “torties” by those of us
who love these beautifully colored cats, for the past two decades. There’s just
something about these cats with their unique personalities, often referred to
as “tortitude,” that appeals to me. Maybe it’s
because I can identify with their strong sense of independence. Maybe it’s
because they seem to live by their own rules. Whatever it is, I’m a tortie
lover for life.
It all started
with Virginia, a high-spirited cat who I first met
during an interview for the hospital manager position at a Virginia animal
hospital. Partway through the interview, a beautiful tortoiseshell cat walked
into the office. Virginia proceeded to walk over to me, looked up at me,
and then dug her claws into my legs and used them as a scratching
post. At the time, I wondered whether that was part of the interview – a
test, perhaps, to see how I would react? I certainly ended up using a similar
technique many times when I interviewed potential staff members – seeing how
they reacted to my office cat sometimes told me more about how they would be
with animals than anything they actually said during the interview. In
hindsight, I realized that, of course, this was the moment Virginia marked
me as her own. For four years, she made my office my home away from
home. When her miscellaneous health problems caught up with her, we let
her go on a sunny April morning. I held her on my lap in the office, surrounded
by all the people who had been a part of her world, as she took her last
breath.
After
Virginia came Amber. Amber and her five kittens were brought to the Middleburg
Animal Hospital by a client who had found the little family in her barn.
Despite being emaciated and scrawny-looking, Amber’s eventual beauty was
evident even then. She was a dark Tortoiseshell color, with an
amber-colored heart-shaped spot on top of her head, which became the reason for
her name. Her kittens found new homes in fairly rapid succession.
However,
nobody was interested in the beautiful mommy cat. She spent her days in
the big adoption cage in the hospital’s waiting area, but with the constant
inflow of homeless kittens that is typical for spring and summer, nobody wanted
to adopt an adult cat. I had recently lost my almost sixteen-year-old
soul mate cat Feebee, and the grief over his loss was still very fresh. I
did not think I was ready for another cat, but coming home to an empty house
was becoming increasingly difficult.
One
weekend, I decided to take Amber home, “just for the weekend”. She never
left my house again until her passing in 2010 after a sudden, brief illness.
Amber was a wise old soul in a feline body, and the inspiration for The Conscious Cat.
Buckley
came into my life in the spring of 2005. After Virginia died in 2002, my office
at the animal hospital felt empty, but the right cat to succeed Virginia in the
very important position of office cat had not come along – until that spring
day, when I walked into the kennel area of the hospital and saw a cute little
tortie in one of the cages all the way in the back. It was love at first sight
for me. After that first encounter, I knew that she would become my new office
cat.
A
year later, I left my job at the animal hospital to start my own business.
Initially, I thought I could live without Buckley, but eventually, I missed her
too much, and a couple of months later, Buckley came home with me, and shared
Amber’s and my life for the next two years, before she passed away from
complications related to her heart disease. Buckley changed my life in ways I
never could have imagined and inspired my first book, Buckley’s Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher.
I currently share my life with Allegra and Ruby, two young tortoiseshell cats who came to me at seven and nine months of age, about a year apart. You can follow some of their adventures on The Conscious Cat (www.ConsciousCat.com) and on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/consciouscat). They both have tortitude in spades.
Ingrid,
thanks for joining us today and sharing your love of torties with us. Having
been owned by a tortie myself, I can say they are amazing creatures and will
forever have a place in your heart once you’ve been around one.
Now
for those who aren’t familiar with Ingrid, here’s a bit of background on her.
 |
| Author Ingrid King with Ruby |
Ingrid
King is the author of five books, including the new Tortitude: The BIG Book About Cats With a BIG Attitude. Tortitude
is available from Amazon now, and will be in stores February 5.
For
more information about Ingrid, please visit www.ConsciousCat.com.
Thanks
so much for stopping by today during Ingrid’s visit. Have you ever had any
interaction with a tortie? Be sure to drop by Ingrid’s website for loads of
information about cats, even if you aren’t owned by a tortie.
