Meet Gato

The Quest for a Cat
Hi, my name is Rachelle and my husband’s name is Matto! I grew up with a cat and have always loved them (more than the average cat owner I think! Haha). Whereas Matto grew up with a dog and wasn’t super interested in getting a cat. I asked and bribed and pleaded.. but eventually settled that we weren’t going to get a cat. One day some friends asked if we could cat sit for a couple days and we said yes! Buster the cat was an amazing house guest and was a huge step up on my quest to convincing Matto to get a Cato! I told his family that I wanted a cat and they all joined me in bugging him. Then he gave in and said we could get a cat (the trade was that he could get a new computer monitor). The next hurdle was convincing our landlords to let us have a cat. I asked once… they said no. I asked again and they said no again. So I did what any logical cat lover would do, told them they needed to find new tenants! Cause we were moving out!! I spent a lot of time online that month, looking at the local SPCA’s and cat rescues for a cat that would be a good fit for our family and for a place to live that was pet friendly.

Meeting Gato
We moved into our new place on March 21 and slept there 1 night. The next morning we drove to a city an hour and a half away to meet a kitten! Our messages weren’t going through that we were on the way, so the foster parents (@samandbean_thefosterteam) were surprised to hear that we were at the shelter! They ADORED Gato (they called him Hades). They admitted that if we didn’t adopt him that they would have! When we met them, they seemed sad, but gave us some time to play with Gato! He was in a strange space with new people, had just gotten out of a car ride and still he played with us and was so friendly! We adopted him that day and have kept in touch and visited Sam and Bean! They are amazing foster parents and we are constantly thankful for how well they socialized Gato as a baby!

Choosing a Name
Our new kitten snuggled up for the whole drive home and slept most of the way! Before beginning our trip we thought we would name our kitty Kaiser (and call him Kai for short). It is a card game that we love, so we thought it was cute.. but when we adopted the kitty, the name didn’t suit him.
We thought of ideas all the way home and eventually chose “Gato” because Matto speaks French and I speak Spanish. In Spanish it means cat (creative, I know! Haha) and in French it means cake! Gato is our sweet cake cat.

Becoming an Adventure Cato
Gato was 4 months old when we first brought him home. He was cuddly and hyper, such a fun combo! Very quickly I began to catch Matto cuddling Gato, or talking to him. Gato earned Matt’s love just as I knew he would! Gato showed a lot of curiosity and bravery about everything. He didn’t care about loud noises, he wanted to be friends with the vacuum, he liked car rides and so after a month of loving him, we decided to buy him a harness and leash. We wanted to give Gato the chance to explore outside safely to feed his constant curiosity. We started slow but soon we had a cat who loves to walk on a leash with us, a cat who loves to explore new places, who loves to ride in the car knowing it means sniffing new places! We got Gato right when the pandemic was starting to get serious where we live! He came into our lives at the perfect time! He has brought so much joy and purpose to our lives. He constantly makes us laugh! We love Gato very much.

Follow our adventures on Instagram @gato.thecato