Cats I Have Loved: Tonks

Once I became an adult, got married, and settled into an apartment in New York City, I had lived cat-less for five years. It definitely felt like it was time to change that, but our apartment had a “no pets” policy. We would have to wait until we moved, hopefully into a place we owned. That would take a few years!

Christmas of 2007, my husband, Judah, bought me a soft, stuffed orange-and-white cat that looked like my childhood cats, Garfield and Juliette, a litter box, and some cat litter.

Thoughtful gift.

Turns out, he had gotten permission from our landlord for us to get a cat!

Best. Gift. Ever!

We reached out to a local rescue organization and adopted a black-and-white tuxedo kitten who was newly off the street and very feral. She greeted us with a heartfelt hiss and claws-bared, but as soon as I held her, she calmed down, snuggled in, and purred as though she’d never been scared a day in her life. I was in love!

Judah was not.

At first.

“Of course you want the cat who comes at you, hissing, with claws out!”

We named her Tonks after one of our favorite characters in Harry Potter.

Debbie, the woman at the rescue organization, let us borrow a cage. Tonks was so small and so scared, Debbie was worried Tonks would crawl under something and hide, and we wouldn’t be able to find her.

She was so scared of people, we took to putting on a leather glove in order to get her out of her cage. She would scratch at us like her life depended on it. Sadly, in her short life, it probably had.

Once she was out of the cage and next to one of our bodies, she calmed right down and nestled in. She would take naps on my desk while I was working, sleep in the crux of Judah’s arm while we watched TV. She never did get to a place where we could let her roam around the apartment or let us get her from her cage without a swift claw-swipe.

Sadly, Tonks’ body was full of problems. She had been given worm medicine before we brought her home, and within a few days, she “released” dead worms from her tiny frame. We thought this was a good sign, but after living with us for only seven days, Tonks stopped eating and drinking and eventually died.

We were heartbroken. Judah had never had a cat before. It was our first shared animal.

We were so glad we got to love Tonks well the final days of her life, but it was a huge emotional hit. We cried for weeks. Longer than we’d even known her.