Halfnhalf

by Fritzien
(Victoria, BC, Canada)

There were 9 feral cats of varied ages roaming the neighbourhood. As my neighbours and I worked to capture them, we needed a way to identify them for our conversations about them (i.e. "Did you see Black Teenager today?" or "I haven't seen Big Papa in two days!"). Because they kept their distance from us people, they were all named by how they looked. There was Big Papa, Mamacat, Black Teenager, Black Kitten, Sylvester, Tiger, Gray Teenager, Gray Kitten, and Halfnhalf. When Halfnhalf is 'sitting-like-a-log'(toes curled up underneath her), she looks like an all gray cat, but then she stands up and her bottom half is white. We eventually caught all of the cats, and got most set up at the SPCA. A neighbour a few doors down kept Black Kitten, and I kept Halfnhalf. At her first visit to the vet, they asked her name, and I sheepishly said Halfnhalf as I realized that I could never change her name. The vet figured she was four months old at this time. She is still very shy with people, and for some reason, completely un-interested in the great outdoors now, but she is a lovely little cat with a funny name :)