Name, age, sex, breed: Pookie, nearing 2, little lady, brown tabby

Owner/city: Sonia + Bruce/Santa Cruz, CA

How I got my name: It just happened. As soon as I brought her home she was known as Pookie. She has many nicknames though, including Bratatouille, Pookietown Ranch, Pooks, Pick Pick, Pooktard, oh the list goes on.

How we met: The long of it can be read here, but the short story is that a 6-week-old Pookie was rescued from a Chinese import warehouse in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her eyes were so infected and crusted over that they were sealed shut. After just 24-hours of antibiotics, she opened her eyes for what looked like the first time. It was love at first sight on both sides of the kitty crate.

Personality type: Dog-like. She likes to follow us around when we talk to her and is incredibly responsive when we chat with her. She’s crazy affectionate and loves to curl up on your chest, look up into your eyes, and purr very, very loudly. She’s also a bit of a jealous brat. If Bruce or I talk to any of the other cats she runs over and usually picks a fight with said cat. Hence the nickname Bratatouille.

Siblings: Dim Sum and Gizmo are non-related siblings, Gravy is a blood and hoodrat relative who lives in Brooklyn. They have a passive pen pal relationship.

Pet peeves: Being picked up when she’s obviously busy doing other things, sharing attention, and getting denied when she wants to suckle mom’s sweater.

Favorite place to lounge: On the highest perch. She must be above all other cats. This has lead to some acrobatic moves to get to the top of bookcases or moving boxes.

Favorite foods: Greenies. She has been known to chomp onto a finger and draw blood in the attempt to gobble up a greenie.

Forbidden indulgences: Suckling. I don’t know if it’s because I took her away from mom too early, but she loves to knead and suckle my sweaters and sweatshirts (but only if I’m wearing them). She used to suckle my neck, but I weaned her off of that as it was getting a tad creepy.

Strangest habits: Suckling and jumping into the sink while the faucet is running.

Stand-out physical feature: Polydactyl front paws and her midget size. She’s about 7 lbs. and many have mistaken her for a wee kitten. They’re shocked to find out she’s an adult. I have a feeling the Meow Mix her mom was getting just couldn’t provide enough nutrients to her nursing kittens and hence stunted her growth. One of the adorable side effects of malnutrition.

Things you might not know if I didn’t tell or show you: Pookie has a kink at the end of her tail where her tail must have broken at some point. She’s had it ever since I took her home so my theory is that it got stuck in the warehouse door when she was just a babe. It doesn’t seem to bother her, but she gets sensitive about it if I play with it.

(Images: Sonia Zjawinski)

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