After five thousand cats, you might think we have run out of “firsts.”
But remember: we are dealing with a species of icons and originals.
A cat is not “number five” or “number five thousand.”
Just take it from the boy who is a value meal unto himself.
We have already had a Burrito and a Crunchwrap. Cilantro and Guacamole have flavored our history. Gordita, Chalupa, and two distinct Nachos all discovered that “hopeless situations” are nacho problem when you are a Tabby’s Place cat.
But we are now in the time of Taco Cat, the purring palindrome with no predecessor.
When we learned of the shy boy’s plight, our hearts melted faster than squeeze-cheese. He had been saved from the low-calorie life of a stray, only to test positive for feline leukemia virus (FeLV).
Although FeLV+ cats deserve dignity and deliciousness, they require specialized housing apart from uninfected cats. The virus spreads faster than shredded lettuce, and the disease is unpredictable, with many cats living full lives while others succumb quickly.
Few shelters can keep a fella like Taco. FeLV is the sharp queso that no cat ordered.
But at Tabby’s Place, we put the “fun” in “queso fundido.”
So when Taco turned up positive, we just set him a place at love’s table.
Understandably, our feral-born friend started out in a hard shell. It is bewildering business, going from unseen and unsung to adored and serenaded (constantly) by cheesy persons of questionable singing ability. Taco trembled like flan.
But, while our singing may be about as sublime as nonfat sour cream, our gentleness is gourmet. It was time to convince the one and only Taco that he was the one we’d been awaiting for 5,000 cats and 23 years.
We informed him that he is the first Tabby’s Place cat whose name is the same forwards and backwards — Tacocat the Tacocat! We promised to never force him out of his shell. Well, except when we would, but he could take that up with our vet team. Sometimes love smells like funky onions, which is to say vaccines and blood work.
We promised him the company of leaping legends like Kitty Purry and Leonardo DiCatrio. These brave little beans had seen their own hopes refried not once, but twice, and lived to tell the tale. Neither FeLV nor the fierce FIP can squelch the salt and light of life at Tabby’s Place.
We vowed that the cat whose life nearly ended with four little letters would live to taste mercy’s whole menu, forwards and backwards.
And, yes, we may have even told Taco this was his time to “live más.”
But to a worried cat, words sound as garbled as the voice over the drive-thru speaker. Love must be tasted to be trusted. Taco had to learn the flavor of being highly favored.
The recipe for peace is never fast food.
So, day by day, bite by bite (with the occasional nip and hiss), Taco acquired a taste for Tabby’s Place.
When he trashed his cubby, gazing up with shy eyes to see how we might react, he was greeted with gales of laughter, not scolding. “Taco is a big and messy dude,” a staff member observed. And, since tacos are best when big and messy, Taco Cat learned that he is perfect.
When he spelunked into a donut-shaped cave bed that had, a moment earlier, appeared smaller than his entire body, another staff member sat cross-legged beside him. Taco peeked out of this bunker with just one eye, glassy and solemn as an olive (not an Olive). His smitten friend spoke softly. “I love you.” The tone, not the terms, softened Taco’s shell.
Actually, it sure seemed there were no terms and conditions on all this love stuff. Where was the surcharge for slow blinks? When would the kitchen close on kindness?
No matter how many times he cringed, as though wondering what trust would cost him, Taco’s tab was always paid in full.
And today, the first, best, and only Taco in Tabby’s Place history is also the first taco ever to outgrow its own shell.
Once you know you are loved the same as any “normal” cat, forwards and backwards, you stop worrying about being normal at all.
You’re an original recipe.
You’re both safe and savored.
You conclude that “FeLV,” at Tabby’s Place, must just mean “Flavor! ecstasy! Life! Velveeta!”
And you start looking forward to all the firsts to come.