Caturday: World Day against the Abandonment of Domestic Animals -Tissou's Story
Tissou and one of her humans, CB She came with a limp, a crumpled ear, a bent tail, and a story that arrived in fragments. A ghost of someone’s loyalty. A survivor of someone else’s neglect. We didn’t know her name. We gave her one: Don Gato , a commanding title for a cat who marched—crooked but purposeful—into our home and made it hers. Later, the vet would gently shift that to Dona Gata with a quiet smile. Later still, we’d learn her true name— Tissou —and realize she had always known exactly who she was. We were the ones catching up. Tissou’s story, like too many others, carries the echo of abandonment. After years as the cherished only pet of a kind vet, her world collapsed when he died. His widow left her locked in a horse stall and walked away. For 18 months, Tissou cried into the walls of her exile. Neighbors fed her. Her sadness made enough noise for someone to eventually hear. Now, she lives with us—eight cats, nine humans, and a catio that buzzes with morning sun an...