I’m excited to introduce to you all, Fiorello La Guardia. My journey to get this cat had its ups and downs and I’d like to share that story here.
Everyone that I sit with at work has at least one cat. Everyone had been telling me for months how their cats enriched their lives and how happy they are that they got a cat. I was always scared a cat would ruin my apartment, which I’m very proud of, so I never took the prospect of getting one that seriously.
That was until former Notion engineer Bhavesh broke me down. He and his wife Nina had recently gotten a second cat, Bebop, and she was beating up their first cat, Hanuel. They kept on asking me to take Bebop off their hands and I eventually said yes.
Bhavesh was going to come over Sunday, April 26 at 4pm ET to hand Bebop to me. My building doesn’t allow pets, so to prepare for this I had to get a letter of medical necessity to allow me to have a cat in the first place. I also am slightly allergic to cats. I’ve been getting allergy shots to tolerate them, so I was feeling even more confident that I was going to be able to successfully own a cat.
I had done visits to their apartment a couple times so Bebop and I could acquaint ourselves.
Sunday, April 26, 3:40pm ET comes around and Bhavesh FaceTimes me with Bebop in her carrier.
“MEOWWWWW! MMMEEEOOOOWWW!”
She is an unhappy cat. Bhavesh tells me that he and Nina have decided they are so sad seeing Bebop unhappy in her crate that they are going to keep her and deal with the two cats fighting 😭
I understand but am deeply upset to have been played like this. I am still thinking about cat-less life the next day, evidenced by texts with my girlfriend.
Aside: Bhavesh cancelled on me for dinner after reneging on the cat trade.
I begin my search for a different cat. One of my coworkers introduces me to a local cat rescue, LIC Feral Feeders. I get connected to the folks there and see, at the time, Cookie Coquito. I do interviews; I do home tours; I do a virtual visit with the current foster parents.
The rescue tells me I can meet Cookie in person on Sunday, May 5 at 1pm ET at an adoption drive. Sunday comes and I get a desperate text from Bhavesh and Nina.
I go to the shelter at 1pm sharp. I see Cookie Coquito. He is so scared but so am I and we bond. I decide this is the cat for me.
I bring Cookie Coquito Fiorello home and we are hanging out in my bathroom when I get a text from an unknown number. I recognize the name as Fio’s former foster mom!
I wasn’t sure what to do! I felt bad for her but Fio was in my house now! He is not even Cookie Coquito anymore, he is Fio!
I call my contact at the rescue, Victoria, and she says the foster mom never expressed any interest in adoption and that she was actively trying to find someone to adopt the cat. The foster mom even brought the cat to the adoption event! The rescue says I should keep Fio and not respond since she shouldn’t have reached out directly to me.
But then another text comes in.
And another.
I keep telling LIC Feral Feeders about these texts and they say to ignore them, that the former foster mom is messaging them too but she has no right to Fio anymore. They feel like I am the best fit for him.
The former foster mom reaches out to me on WhatsApp, where we were connected for the virtual visit. Yes, this was happening on my birthday. Then her partner reaches out to me on iMessage mentioning some medicines. I asked the rescue what he is talking about and they say Fio isn’t on any medication!
Former foster mom sends me another text. This one also made me feel sad for her but again, I was so in love with Fio by this point I was not even going to think about giving him up.
At this point LIC Feral Feeders tells me to block her and her partner, so I do. I block her on WhatsApp, and I go to preemptively block her on Instagram…
I find an account that they were running for Fio! Notice how it says:
DM to get adoption details
I didn’t want to follow it so I asked my girlfriend if one of her friends could follow to do some snooping. They never accepted but I got a follow request from the account! I thought this was strange but then I clicked on the account and realized I must have accidentally requested to follow it 😵 so then I had to block my own cat on Instagram.
But the weird thing is there were 14 posts before, and now there are only 2 🤔
Since I blocked everywhere, Fio and I have been living a really peaceful life. Here are all the happier times we have gotten to spend together ❤️
