Hello, I’m Niña, the tortoiseshell tabby, and I am probably the best-traveled cat you’ll ever meet. In my 15 years I’ve moved from South Africa, to Pennsylvania, to South Carolina, to Florida and now to Texas, and I have to say, it’s a challenging job keeping up with my person, but somebody has to take care of her! My person is Dr. Kate Foulke, who comes from a family of doctors, except she’s the only one whose patients are animals. As a kid she lived in Chicago, across the street from Lincoln Park Zoo, so her best friends were zoo animals and her menagerie of furry pals—a ferret, a horse, dogs, cats, and rabbits. Dr. Kate studied zoology and veterinary medicine at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where she moved following a vacay in which she realized how much she loves Africa. It used to just be me and Lady, a fox-like puffball of a canine, whom Dr. Kate met when she was recovering at Dr. Kate’s externship clinic, after being hit by a car and abandoned. Like me, Lady crossed the ocean to live on a new continent. Then in South Carolina, we picked up Hazel, a pit/beagle puppy who was waaaay too up-in-my-business. But she’s grown up now, so sometimes I’ll share my person’s lap with her. Speaking of laps, Dr. Kate has the best, and when she’s home, she loves to cuddle. It’s our mutual favorite activity. There’s also Breezy, the bumblebee ball python, who I used to stalk, but now she just bores me, and we live in the country with horses and bulls. Hazel and I roll in manure, which annoys Dr. Kate, but hey, her love for animals other than me annoys me, and in truth, we are totally living our best lives. Dr. Kate loves working with animals of all types, but she’s done some extra studies that make her well-qualified to care for wildlife and big animals. All of her favorite activities involve animals—horseback riding, scuba diving, birdwatching, camping, and hiking. My only complaint is that these things take away from her time with me!
