The Cat magazine, Spring 2010

1. If mewsic be the
food love,
of
Reports have suggested
that pets can bring you
happiness but can they
also lead you to find love?
A
my Rutter investigates…
play on
N
owadays there are many ways to meet your ideal Olive and Jasmine. By October, Smudge and Nicky had moved
partner. You can meet someone at work, through across the country to live with Patrick and ‘the girls’.
friends or when you’re out just about anywhere Nicky says they made introductions between their cats
– the list is pretty much endless. gradually with Smudge staying in the spare room for the first
But what is different about that? What would be really few days and began by exchanging scents. “As expected,
interesting is if your cat helped you to find love. Your cat Olive, who’s a real ‘daddy’s girl’, was most put out – with
could wander into the home of your ideal partner. Your vet me, as well as Smudge I think! – and there was some mutual
could turn out to be Mr or Ms Right. Or your eyes could even growling when they first met, but fortunately no fighting.”
meet over the pet food aisle in the supermarket. It was hugely important to Nicky that Smudge approved of
We spoke to three women with unique stories involving Patrick. “I think cats are very astute judges of character and
men and moggies… Smudge took to Patrick and let him fuss him straight away –
unlike some previous boyfriends who he would
Decent proposal never let near him!”
Nicky Jennings from Warwick was divorced She reveals that she doesn’t think the
in April 2003 and met her new partner, “I figured if my relationship would have lasted if Smudge
Patrick, in August of the same year hadn’t liked Patrick: “I certainly wouldn’t
through an online dating agency. “I have cats liked him so have moved in with him,” Nicky says.
to say that the thing that most attracted “Smudge’s happiness and welfare was
me to him was the fact he was a cat lover much he must always paramount in my decision making.”
and dad to a pair of cats: Olive and Jasmine,” On New Year’s Eve, Patrick proposed.
says Nicky, 43. “The most important thing in be okay” He had planned to place the ring on a loose
my life was my cat, Smudge, a then ageing, black- ribbon hung over Smudge’s head – like Mr Jinx
and-white boy.” wears in Meet the Fockers. “We had previously
It was Patrick’s photo that initially attracted her to watched the film together and are fans of Mr Jinx.
read his dating profile in depth. “The fact he had two cats I remember commenting at the time that I couldn’t think of
was certainly the clincher that made me decide to initiate a better way to propose – I wasn’t hinting, honest! It must
contact!” They swapped many emails including stories and have struck a chord with him too”. Unfortunately, Patrick left
photos about their feline friends for about three or four the empty ring box on the side which Nicky discovered before
months before they met. “It seemed like ages before we got the planned proposal; this pre-empted things and rather
an opportunity to meet up, living so far apart,” she says. scuppered his plans!
Smudge was present on their first date when Patrick In mid-January of the following year, Smudge was
went to visit for the weekend and approved of her choice diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and after
wholeheartedly. Nicky then made the 150-mile trip from a couple of weeks Nicky realised that it was time to say
Sudbury, Suffolk to Warwick the following weekend to visit goodbye. “Smudge’s new step-daddy cuddled him in his
32 The Cat Spring 2010

2. feature
arms and told him not to worry, he would always look after They had to find an emergency vet and Gizmo became an
his mummy,” says Nicky. amputee. The vet suspected Gizmo had been trapped by his
Six years on, Nicky and Patrick have yet to tie the knot, tail and finally pulled himself free.
but are still together and have new additions to their feline Throughout January 1996, Chris was back and forth with
family. They currently have four cats: Olive and Jasmine still, Gizmo to the vet. “You may remember it had snowed very
Wilkie and, more recently, Sweep – all adopted from the heavily at this time and I looked like the abominable snow
Coventry and Mid-Warwickshire Cats Protection branches. woman, trudging to the bus stop through the thick snow to
take Gizmo in his carrier to the vet,” Chris says. “Gizmo hated
A chance romance the journeys and often peed in his carrier. So there I’d be, at
In December 1995 Chris Orton’s black-and-white moggy the bus stop, muffled up with just my nose sticking out and
Gizmo went missing. She describes it as an awful time, carrying a dripping, steaming cat basket! Hardly a prospect
explaining that he had always been an ‘outdoor’ cat – he for a chance romance!”
came to them as a stray – but came home regularly for his Despite this, one day while waiting for the bus, a man
meals, so when he went missing for 10 days all Chris wanted started chatting to her. It turned out Kieron was a great
for Christmas was for Gizmo to come home safely. cat lover, lived just round the corner from Chris and was
Chris, 52, from Chessington, Surrey says she feared all sorts. also single. Chris says part of the ‘attraction’ for Kieron was
“There are far more ways now of making it known that your that someone had told him she was involved with cats – she
cat is missing, but we did all the door knocking, leafleting fostered for her local Cats Protection branch years previously.
and signing that we could so a lot of people knew. I think cat “I haven’t fostered since I was about 30 as the branch came
people talk to other cat people and a lot of us were looking to an end at that point – although the people involved have
out for him.” re-established it and have many new members it seems!”
On Christmas Day, Chris’s daughter Anne called to tell her Chris says.
that Gizmo had appeared at her patio window. But he had a At the time of meeting Kieron, Chris was doing voluntary
big problem – most of his tail was missing. work in a café and he suggested he met her there. As they
Photo: CP Library
The Cat Spring 2010 33

3. got to know each other more, Kieron often went to visit her the door, staying in there the whole duration of his visit. Lisa
at home. He had never owned a cat and loved playing with realised that she was right to despise him. “He turned out to be
Chris’s two, Gizmo and Lucky – and they loved him. He firstly a real scoundrel that was dating several of my colleagues all at
fell in love with the cats and Chris soon followed! the same time – without them knowing”, she says. “Since this,
They have been together ever since, thanks to Gizmo. Now, I have taken Buddy’s judgment of people pretty seriously.”
all these years on, Gizmo and Lucky have gone to Rainbow She got her second cat a couple of years after Buddy after
Bridge but Chris and Kieron are shared by their two adopted finding him at a local animal welfare centre in Colorado
cats, Chloe and Mr T. Springs. She describes him as the sweetest cat she has ever
known and named him Sam. “Sam is sweet and affectionate,
More than a buddy but he is reserved”, she says. “So the fact that he came up to
Lisa Pike, 41, met her husband John, 39, when he went over to John on their first meeting was very unusual.”
her apartment in New York – after a friend’s recommendation So Lisa did go out on a date with John and he seemed
– to look at her crashed computer back in April 2006. Before “alright”. They kept dating and she says she grew quite fond
John had even looked at her computer he was on the floor of him. “I had to go out of town at one point and asked John
with her two cats. Lisa was amazed as they don’t normally if he would take care of Sam and Buddy for me. ‘Sure,’ he
warm up to too many people. Later, John asked Lisa out for said. Well, he took the best care of them. I ended up arriving
a date. She says “I wasn’t especially attracted to him and back home a bit early and found him brushing Sam.” Lisa had
thought he was strange! I think we had a couple of group no idea that Sam loved to be brushed so much: “I think the
outings together before I went out with him. I figured if my cats had such a wonderful time with him taking such good
cats liked him so much he must be okay.” care of them, they hardly noticed that I was back from that
Lisa has two cats: “The first one I got when I lived in NYC – trip,” she adds.
I now live in Colorado Springs – and had mice in my John and Lisa dated for about a year and a half before
apartment. I found her at the animal shelter there and I really getting married. Lisa says she fell in love with John and
liked her because she had a nice loud ‘voice’ which I figured believes his doting on her beloved cats really influenced that
would help scare the mice away. She is a calico named Buddy – and even thinks she wouldn’t have married him if her cats
and is 11 years old now. She took care of my mouse problem didn’t like him. Now they all live together happily!
and I promised her I would take care of her for life.” Love can pop up from just about anywhere and it’s
When Lisa still lived in New York, she had a prospective sometimes difficult to separate the men from the boys. So if
boyfriend go over to her apartment. Buddy despised him so your mog can help you find your knight in shining armour,
much she would go in the bathroom and turn her back to what are you waiting for? Get puss on the case!
Photo: istockphoto.com/Daniel Laflor
34 The Cat Spring 2010