Last month, I took home a wonderful little kitty who has been living in my office for a while. You may have seen her picture on our Facebook page. Her name is Baffi which is short for Baffi di Latte. That is Italian for “milk moustache”.
Take one look at her picture and you will see why – she has a perfect little milk moustache in white over her top lip. Well, that is the explanation for the reference, I cannot tell you why we chose Italian other than it sounded a lot prettier in Italian than it sounded in any other language. She has not done anything that would seem to suggest that she is, in fact, Italian.
Baffi was found as a stray by my next door neighbors. They have a house at the river and kept seeing her wandering around alone outside. She came running to them whenever they arrived. They fed her and asked around to see if she belonged to someone. None of the neighbors had any idea where she had come from and none were able to take her in. So my neighbors brought her to the Richmond SPCA after she waited out her stray period with them. At the time that this all happened, I had just lost my precious and beloved Audrey. My heart was really broken and I was in that stage where your eyes well with tears uncontrollably at unexpected moments. I promised my neighbors that I would look out for Baffi since they really loved her but could not give her a home (they have two Siamese cats that are not interested in acquiring siblings).
I believed that nothing could ever fill that hole in my
heart that Audrey had left. But, little Baffi was so cute, sweet and
affectionate that I decided to let her come as far as my office, although I was
sure that she would not work her way further into my heart. She knew
otherwise. Before long, her purring, expert typing assistance and rolling
over for tummy rubs whenever I entered the room had worked her magic. I
found myself not wanting to leave her at the end of the day. So she came
home with me and it is for good. Our other cat, Mr. Darcy, is not liking
her much at the moment. But somehow I feel pretty sure that Baffi’s
beauty, charm and affection will work her way into his heart just like she did
into mine. Maybe she actually is Italian.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
Such a wonderful story Robin! When Tommy and I lost Brio, we were terribly heartbroken and cried every day. We were also dead set against getting another dog and inflicting this type of pain on ourselves ever again. Robin understood deeply what we were going through, and gently and persistently persuaded me to come to the Richmond SPCA for a visit after several weeks had passed. Here I fell in love with Brooks, and Tommy and I have joyously fallen in love with her, too. Robin knew exactly what we needed to ease the pain and bring us peace again. A special loving THANKS from the the Gammons' to Robin and the Richmond SPCA.
Posted by: Karen Gammon | December 05, 2012 at 03:11 PM
She's beautiful! Would make a great spokeskitty for the Milk Advisory Board (lactose-free, of course!).
What a wonderful story, and thanks for sharing, and opening your heart once again!
Cheers
Posted by: Julie Burley | December 18, 2012 at 10:06 PM