♥

Zilinski

Pets

Starbuck Zilinski

Starbuck was originally called "Bo" because Wendy, who rescued him from Home Depot, only ever saw him in shadows and it often looked like he had a bow on his nose. Wendy and her coworkers frequently fed the Home Depot cats, and it happened one day that one of the employees cut her finger on a cat food tin and the boss found out what was going on.

Animal control was called and cat traps were set. They were captured and gathered up to be euthanized, feral as they were. Wendy managed to get this one cat and hide it by her register, while her dickish male coworker spent the day kicking the cage until the cat was so afraid of human beings that he was called "Biohazard" for the first few months of his life due to his vicious attacks if you approached him. That man was eventually fired for some non-animal torture-related reason.

Well, Starbuck was having a hard time at Wendy's house. She had four cats and three dogs that didn't want a kitten anywhere near their things. We took Starbuck into our home, and it was four months before he would come out from under the bed while we were around.

Starbuck is now a very cuddly cat. You'd never know that he was ever feral or tortured. He is our loudest purrer, and like his Home Depot brother, Freyr, he is exceptionally soft to the touch.

I took him to the vet last week for his annual rabies shot, and his file still said "BEWARE" on it from his previous feral days. After the vet and the vet techs were done petting him and cooing over how handsome he was, "BEWARE" has been stricken from his record.

Some life lessons will never be undone. To this day, he refuses to eat wet cat food, presumably because he associates with the Home Depot traps. He also refuses to eat any cat treats.

Some time ago, I began noticing my hair ties were going missing. I couldn't figure out for the life of me where I kept leaving them. I was cleaning the living room and decided to clean under the carpet, which I hadn't done in quite some time, and imagine my surprise when I discovered thirty five of my hair ties there. And Starbuck behind me with another one in his mouth.