With love we welcome...

Etienne and Marcello

age 1 1/2

around 10 lbs each

orange tabbies

devoted brothers


Etienne and Marcello were born on the streets in late 2006, raised in foster homes, and adopted into their "furever" home on March 3rd, 2008.

Many more photos are coming at the end of this narrative.

Etienne (sage green collar, laying down in photo) was very shy at first, but he has become the sweet, sociable one who will sometimes sit on our laps or lay on our bellies (or walk across our laptops while we're trying to work). He likes to eat cheese, chicken, and houseplants. It was fortunate that we had given away all of our big, beautiful, poisonous plants while kitty-proofing our apartment in preparation for their homecoming, because after their first night at home, nothing was left of my pinea except some 2" stems.

Marcello (bright green collar, sitting up over Etienne) is the adventurer, and lovable in his own bossy "feed me now" way. His name is pronounced with an Italian accent, with a rolling R and a "ch" sound, just like Marcello Mastroianni of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. He is fond of waking me up in the morning right before my alarm goes off. Apparently, he has learned how to tell time. He has excelled in his training faster than Etienne, quickly learning "come," "up," and "sit" - but this may have more to do with his predilection for treats than his capacity for learning. We suspect that we'll never be able to get him to perform these feats sans treats. He loves to bat around little fake mice, especially pushing them under the refrigerator so that I will retrieve them for him.

They are charming, beautiful, and as spoiled as can be. They are such nearly-identical twins that we still have trouble telling them apart. Etienne's back socks are even, whereas one of Marcello's is higher than the other. Marcello has a little white slash of fur above his nose, whereas Etienne does not. And their coat patterns are different. But it's still faster to just look at their collars. Their personalities, however, are very easy to tell apart.

Adopting our boys was a decision that we did not take lightly. We started discussing the possibility of pet adoption just after the New Year, eventually setting on a feline, and shortly thereafter deciding that it wouldn't be fair for our future furkid to be left in our tiny apartment without company all day, so two cats it had to be. I ordered a copy of Dr. Tracie Hotchner's The Cat Bible (or "What to Expect When You're Expecting Cats" as I prefer to think of it), and I read it from cover to cover.

We spent a long time browsing kitty profiles on petfinder.com (with me always getting all weepy over their stories and wishing that we could give them all homes) before contacting the women who run Green Street Rescue, a small Philly-based organization dedicated to TNR (trap-neuter-realease) of feral cats and to finding homes for abandoned domesticated cats. It was not long before our adoption application was approved and we got to meet the boys. We had told the Green Street ladies that we were open to adopting cats of any age, whichever most badly needed a home, so long as they get along well with each other. But it was ultimately these two young gentlemen, whose profile had already caught our eye on petfinder, whom Kathy and Linda suggested we meet. The meeting only confirmed that we had already fallen for them, and they came home with us on the evening of Monday, March 3rd.

The boys had a rough upbringing, as explained in an e-mail from their foster mom, Linda:

"The original person who took them in is Helen who lives in NE Phila. Gandalf and Doe [whom we now call Marcello and Etienne, respectively] and their mother Coco were all thrown out by their human families. Coco was not spayed; on the street she gave birth to two sons, both of whom Helen tried to place in homes. Gandalf was adopted by a neighbor, but found himself on the street again shortly thereafter. Doe briefly lived with a family who had a dog named Cookie; they called him Dough. They too abandoned him to the street. Once again Helen found herself with three additional cats that needed rescue."

Once the brothers had been reunited, it was decided that they would not be separated again. Here is some more background info that Linda shared with us:

"I began fostering them last spring. Dough became Doe because "dough" was too undignified to be a permanent name, yet he answers to it. I changed the spelling to Doe, and later realized that it was feminine. So it was either change his name to Doug, which he wouldn't recognize, or leave him as Doe. I'm not very creative with names any more, so he remained Doe."

We originally felt obligated to keep their given names, but once we heard the story of their abandonment, it seemed silly not to rename them, since we were not particularly fond of the names they had been given. We called them by both their old and new names for a while, but now they are just Marcello and Etienne, our little latin loverboys - Marcello the Italian, and Etienne the Frenchman.

Even when they are being naughty, my heart aches with adoration for them. I had not realized that two small creatures could make me so happy.

Finally, here are some more of our countless photos and video clips for you to coo and fuss over. Enjoy.

Grooming:




Watching the fishies on their kitty DVD:


Sleeping:




Flirting:


Eating treats out of Daddy's hand:


Playing:

Marcello occasionally shows his dominance by pretending to mount Etienne while they're playing. Not to worry, The Cat Bible assures us that this is perfectly normal behavior.  Gay or not, we love our boys regardless.

Stretching:

Cuddling with daddy while he's napping:

Most of B and the boys' bonding occurs in this horizontal position.

My bonding with them usually involves mealtimes and/or playing.

Go figure.