What is the name of your cat?
Pepi
Photo (above): Pepito out cat exploring. Where he enjoys it the most!. Portrait taken by @pepitotuxedo
Where is your cat family located in?
NSW, Australia
What is the breed of your cat?
He is a big cat in a small body that wears a tuxedo
How old are your cats?
He is 1-years-old.
Where can we find your cat on social media?
On Instagram @pepitotuxedo
In a few short words/sentences, tell us about your cat's personalities.
Pepi is the gentlest cat that we've ever come across. His idea of "attacking" is slowly swiping at a glacial pace with his claws tucked away.
He is a curious cat that wants to explore the world. He loves playing games and has self-taught a couple of tricks, with the latest being playing fetch with his gingerbread man toy.
As much as he loves tackling this big world, he loves his sleep the most. He sleeps about 5-6 hours during the day and gets a good 8 hours sleep again at night.
How has your cat transformed your life from the moment you've met him till now?
The biggest change that Pepi has had for us is having a cat that has taken well to being outdoors. For us, it means being able to go to parks and sit down and have a picnic with him.
What does your cat mean to you?
Pepi means the world to us. I think we spoil him a little too much!
How did you and your cat first meet? Tell it to us in the form of a short story.
It was August 2019 and we had just lost our previous 5-year-old tuxedo cat, Pablo, after a tough 5 month battle with lymphoma cancer. We both agreed that we would likely adopt a cat at the beginning of 2020. However, we also understood that the process of finding and adopting a cat could take time. It’s not like a shop, where you go in, find what you want, scan the barcode to pay and walk out. During this grieving process, we started preparing ourselves by looking for what animal rescue shelters were available in our area.
Whilst on a flight home to Sydney in September 2019, I was looking at cats on Pet Rescue and stumbled across a young tuxedo cat, whose name was Pablo, the same name and almost identical look to our previous cat who had recently passed away. I showed the profile to Danielle and her immediate response was to ask me where I had found a photo of Pablo when he was a kitten. It then dawned on her that it wasn’t our old cat but in fact a cat with the same name and similar markings. The profile of this new Pablo explained that he got his name from the artist Pablo Picasso, just like our old Pablo.
After composing ourselves, we asked ourselves whether it was too soon to be adopting a new cat. Absolutely, it was too soon! However, we also agreed that we would probably regret it if we didn’t at least do a meet and greet.
I spent the next 30 minutes frantically filling in the form to arrange a meet and greet, to which I received a reply within 15 minutes. After a bit of back and forth with the rescue shelter, we had arranged a meet and greet for 2PM. Keeping in mind that all this had been arranged, whilst we were still in the air, on a Sunday morning at about 11AM.
We landed at midday and rushed home to get in the car to drive out to meet this cat that looked almost identical to the previous cat, both with the same name. We packed Pablo’s old carry case into the car and headed to the rescue shelter. We wondered if we were ready to have a new cat in our lives. Would people think that we were just replacing one cat that we lost, with another identical one to fill the void? Very likely. But we both agreed that we couldn’t leave any stone unturned.
We arrived at the animal rescue and was taken to the meet and greet room. Out came Pablo and his brothers. Full of energy. Playing with each other. Pouncing on each other. We were both calling out his name, “Pablo”. It felt so weird calling this young cat that looked almost identical to our previous, “Pablo”. We eventually stopped, when we realised that he probably didn’t even know it was his name.
“Pablo” charmed us with his insistent head rubbing and his love of neck/chin rubs. At that moment, we knew that we couldn’t say “no” to this cute cat.
We were given some time to decide on whether we wanted to adopt him. The decision was pretty clear to us. How could we not?
What do you think your cat thinks of you?
Pepi sees both of us as providers of food, but also his protectors whenever there’s a scary noise.
Your cat is part of your family. What are some things they do that make you think that consider you part of theirs?
Pepi will often come to us to play with us. He seems to be pretty good at playing on his own, but also asking us to play with him. He has a butterfly toy, that he asks us to turn it on, by getting our attention and then sitting next to the toy and staring at us.
He also goes to bed when we do. And when he wakes up before us, he lays there patiently until either one of us wakes up, before playing with us.
What are some accounts your cat likes to follow on Instagram?
@pablotuxedo (that’s our previous cat).
@furrymunchkinsphotography – a lot of great photos of people and their pets.
@hamishadventurecat.aus – tuxedo cat up in Queensland that looks almost identical to Pepi.
@kimbraloves – a cat lover that makes some adoral bowties for cats.
@catexplorer.community – an amazing account that shows that cats can be outdoor pets.
@robert_sijka – a photographer known for his photos of Maine Coons.
@takeyourcatoutside – another account that encourages taking cats outdoors
Why do you feel that it is important to show the world that Cats are Family?
I think it’s important to show the world that cats are more than just how they’re often portrayed in the media and advertising. They have different qualities to other pets and can be a great pet/companion/family member for any type of person.
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