Name: Gitzo, age 2
Owner: Lauren Clark
Community: Lunenburg
Meet the pet: Make sure to say hello when you see this leashed, cow-patterned cat hopping along the streets of Lunenburg – Gitzo is a very friendly guy.
When Lunenburg newcomer Lauren Clark took a 10-month-old Gitzo in as a foster from the Moncton SPCA just over a year ago, she didn’t expect him to become a permanent companion.
“He came up on their adoption list and had just had his leg amputated from trauma. He needed a place to recover, so I fostered him for about two months, and then it was time to say goodbye, so I gave him back,” says Lauren, who arrived in town this year.
During Gitzo’s foster stay, Lauren wavered over whether she would truly adopt the cat.
“He would do something really cute and I would think, ‘Ah, I really want to keep him,’ ” she says.
“But then he would do something horrifying like try to balance on an upper story railing and scare me half to death, and I would be like – ‘This cat’s going to give me a heart attack, I’m not going to keep him.’ ”
In the end, Gitzo, named after the French tripod company, won her over. The day after she returned him to the SPCA, she called back to say she changed her mind, and the rest is history.
Only Gitzo himself could tell you what misadventure led to his injury before he was taken in by the Moncton SPCA.
But now aged two and spry as any cat, whatever happened didn’t put any damper on his spirit or eagerness to play outdoors. He loves to roll around and pounce among Old Town, and becomes a friend to all he meets – he was even a dear pal of a Golden Retriever for a year.
Lauren only lets Gitzo outside on a leash – unless he quickly sneaks out the door when someone’s coming in the house, which is his way of saying it’s time for the Daily Walk.
Staying harnessed means Gitzo gets to enjoy nature without the unnecessary death of any local birds. It also means Lauren faces no concerns over the little fellow experiencing overconfidence in his ability to completely climb a tree if he encounters any predators.
As far as his home life, any cat owner can tell you keeping one happy means consistently monitoring and fulfilling their most subtly-indicated needs, and Lauren has got it all down.
“He needs his water to be moving to drink it. So he will pull the bowl towards him in order to make the water move, and then drink it,” says Lauren.
“Maybe if he was super thirsty, but there usually needs to be some movement in the water. So I’ve got a glass bowl that’s quite heavy on a tea towel, that seems to work the best.”
