We tend to attribute a lot of things in our lives to luck, but most things are so much more than that. Chance, destiny and fate are words that better define the encounters in our lives, mostly because they help us rewrite our history, and you don’t do that with just a bit of luck.
Kanel was more than lucky, he is a blue-eyed Siamese cat who found more than a mother, he got himself a whole big loving family.
- NAME: KANEL
- AGE: 5 years old
- BREED: Siamese Mix
- SIBLINGS: Niko and Onyx
- COUSINS: PAZ and LUNA
- FAVOURITE TOY: Anything hanging by a string
- RESIDENCE: MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA
THE RESCUE
Kanel is a rescued cat, alongside his brother Niko, (more about him later). They were rescued together, about five years ago, from under a building in the neighborhood where their human mother, Soledad, used to live. Small, hungry and frightened, no one knows how long they were there, unfed and crying for help.
Soledad found the time and the space in her house to nurse them back to life, to give them a shelter and adopt them as her kids, providing them with the biggest love she could give them. And they repaid her with the loveliest, fluffiest cuddles they were capable of, forever grateful for her awesome gesture.
IS IT A HE OR A SHE?
When you take an animal in from the street, and especially when you have not had too many pets before, you do not pay attention to the small details, such as the gender of the pet.
Soledad, overwhelmed by having two new and unexpected babies in her life, chose their names without thinking about it. That is why Kanel, a fluffy and cute Siamese mix, got his initial name Canelita (cinnamon in Spanish), because of the colour of his fur. Now, Canelita is a female name, so when the gender was eventually revealed by the vet who did the first check-up, Soledad found herself in a very tricky situation – Canelita was in fact a he… That could not stay like that, but the mother was determined to keep the meaning of the name.
First thing she did was to start searching the internet for translations of Cinnamon in other languages and eventually found the winning one: Kanel, same meaning, only in Swedish, which sounded more masculine. The decision was final and written in the cat’s medical and identity records.
SOUTH AMERICAN HERITAGE
Kanel does not seem to be very fussy about his food, eating everything he is given, usually cat food, but he has a few cravings he would always be begging Soledad to let him have. The most common ones are yogurt and spicy foods (weird combination if you ask me) but let’s not forget that his family has South American heritage and dairy and spicy foods are a common delight in their culture. He just takes after his mother.
Kanel is also a very modest cat. He does like toys, but the ones he is always happiest to play with are those hanging by a string. Expensive or cheap, it does not really matter as long as they are put in front of him and move, up and down, left or right. Oh, and empty boxes, they are really fascinating! No matter the size, no matter the colour, if there is a way you can hide in it, that’s a big hit!
MIAMI, MY LOVE!
Kanel is an indoor cat, just like his two other brothers, Niko and Onyx (a more recent addition to the family), and the territory available for exploration is quite limited. He does not complain about that either, as long as he gets to sit in his mother’s blue chair. And if a ray of light catches him having his siesta there, even better! There is nothing better in the world than curling up under the Miami sun. Sunny Florida is his home state and one of the most exiting cities in the world, Miami, his birthplace. Too bad he does not make more of it, by choosing to be indoors all day and night.
As Soledad would describe him, Kanel is not very sociable, he hides under the bed when people are coming over. He is very loving with his mother and a few close friends. Maybe he is shy, but who are we to judge, perhaps he is not very much into people after all.
THE HI-TECH CAT
However Kanel does have a passion, or at least he did for a while. Judging by his age, he’s still a teenager looking for a meaning to life and he’s still deciding on a career. We might just put him in touch with our Bichon Bandit to get some inspirational lectures about his future development.
Anyway, Kanel’s passion for a while was related to the hi-tech world and it all started with the discovery of Soledad’s iPad. It was love at first sight, or touch, his mother presumes. He absolutely loved to sleep on it, play with it, fight for it when Soledad dared to use it and even cry when she took it away from him. That is what I call passion! It was hilarious to see his interaction with the iPad; he really seemed to care about it. This lasted for a few months, restless moments, huge excitement, searches around the house, begging, crying, anything one can imagine a cat doing to get his favourite toy. And, one day, Kanel just seemed to have forgotten all about it.
Instead he got back to the old routine, lengthy belly rubs, needy moments and demanding more and more attention, making sure that the cuddling and caressing lasts longer and longer. Probably he just remembered that he is actually just a cat and that is what cats are best at doing, or maybe he was just disappointed that Soledad never hung the iPad from a shoe string and let him play even more with it.
“I ADORE THEM!”
We ask our contributors how having a pet changed their lives. Soledad had the sweetest reply that only a mother could give:
“Having found Kanel and Niko absolutely changed my life. I always loved animals, but I never had a pet of my own. I fell in love when I first saw them, they looked like two helpless, little fur balls with the most beautiful blue eyes, barely meowing, not sure how many hours or days they had been on their own without food. Coming home from work, returning from a trip, eating yogurt or cheese has not been the same since I found them. Not to mention the endless use of lint rollers and excessive vacuuming. I adore them!”
Author: Delia Dobritoiu
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