We are delighted to introduce you to our four purrrfect feline Pet Idols: Isabella, Marilyn, Tillie, and Margo. Each took a few moments out of their day to tell us more about themselves.

ISABELLA

How old are you?
I’m 5 years old, in my prime!

What breed(s) are you?
I don’t even know what that means, so I must not be one.

How long have you been with your human?
Since I was 6 months old.  I was delivered to her along with my little sister Ivy, on April 1, 2018, the same day that Marilyn was delivered here.

Where did your human find you?
She found me at the Homeless Cat Network.

What is your favorite thing or activity to do with your human or pet siblings?
I LOVE playing with the Kitty Kaster, or Fox Tail, or the “worm on a string.”  And sometimes I find a mousie and knock it all over the house all by myself.  And I like Cat TV on YouTube!

How do you show your human your love?
I Like to chatter, chitter and chirrup at her when she feeds me,  I praise her and tell her how much I like it.

What is your favorite thing about your human?
I like that she is gentle with me and accepts me the way I am.  I’m not a lap cat, and she is OK with that.

What makes the bond you have with your human special?
We went through my little sister’s, Ivy’s, illness and death together; she as Mom, me as big sister.  We both did everything we could, in our own ways.  And Ivy was better off because we were there for her, and she definitely knew how much we cared.  That made Ella and me closer to each other, too.

What makes you or your family unique?
We are a strange mix of personalities!  We might not have ever chosen each other, but Mom makes each of us feel so special, so safe, so loved, that we’ve found that we love each other, too.  Sometimes we spat, like sisters, but two seconds later you’ll find us bathing each other.

Do you have any favorite or special treats?
Treats are OK, but nothing is as wonderful as play, especially with my favorite toy with tinsel strands on the end.  Auntie Mary (who is also a PAWS volunteer) really knows how to make it dance!!

Why do you love being a companion animal?
WOW!  There is no comparison to living outside, on my own with no guarantee of food or a dry, warm place to sleep.  This is the BEST!!  My life is safe, predictable!!  And full of LOVE!

What do you think about being our 2023 PAWS Pet Idol?
Meh, It’s not such a big deal.  It was fun finding ways to frustrate Mark, letting him crawl across the room with his big camera and then jumping down and going somewhere else.  Mom says this is really important, but I just don’t see it.

MARILYN

How old are you?
I’m 5 years old, and in my prime!

What breed(s) are you?
I think I must be pedigreed because I was named after a movie star, Marilyn Monroe, but that is all that I know.

How long have you been with your human?
I was delivered to her on April 1, 2018.

Where did your human find you?
She found me at Coastal Cats Rescue Group in Montara.  I’d been dumped on a farm on the coast and I was hanging out with the sheep!

What is your favorite thing or activity to do with your human or pet siblings?
I LOVE to play!  When she plays with me I like to make acrobatic twisting leaps into the air.  And I like play with toy mousies and little plastic coils all by myself.  I can knock them about, all through the house and back.  I like to make a lot of racket with them.

How do you show your human your love?
I stare lovingly into her eyes until she reaches down to pet me.  And I talk to her.  She likes for me to talk to her.  We chit-chat back and forth.

What is your favorite thing about your human?
I love how she always remembers me.  Even though there are three others, I’m still special to her,  she saves time for me, special attention for me.

What makes the bond you have with your human special?
We’ve been together so long.  I can see how much love she has to give.  I watched her take in Tillie, and then Margo, and there is plenty of love for all of us.

What makes you or your family unique?
I think it is very special that we are all so different, yet we get along with each other.  We know that we are family.

Do you have any favorite or special treats?
I’m pretty fond of food, so all treats are special.  But it is even a bigger treat when someone plays with me.  I love all kinds of play.

Why do you love being a companion animal?
Aw, Man, it’s the BEST!!  It is so wonderful to feel safe, warm and loved ALL THE TIME!!

What do you think about being our 2023 PAWS Pet Idol?
Well, I guess it’s OK.  I don’t quite see what all the fuss is about.  But she says it is for a good cause, and she is right about most things, so I go along.  And Mark is OK.  I was suspicious at first but he won me over and I let him take pictures.  And I think I look even better than Marilyn Monroe.

TILLIE

How old are you?
I’m the youngest, only 4 years old.

What breed(s) are you?
I’m made of all the best characteristics of all breeds of cats.  I’m a SuperCat!

How long have you been with your human?
I chose Ella in March, 2019.  And she finally chose me in April, 2019.

Where did your human find you?
She found me on her back deck, late at night, visiting with Ivy & Isabella & Marilyn through the sliding glass door.  I came back every night.  I came back every day, too, but she didn’t see me then. Finally, on Saturday, when she came out to work in her garden, I made my approach.  I came right up and talked with her, showing her how smart I am and inviting her to discover how soft and silky my fur is.  I got into her lap so that she would see me up close, and understand what a good person I am, and that I needed help.  I had tons of fleas, and I was in heat, so this seedy looking guy from the street was following me around and trying to jump onto me.  I didn’t like it at ALL!!  He chased me up onto the roof of the house next door and I was so freaked out that even after she chased him away, it took her a long time to coax me into coming down and into her garage.  She gave me something that made all the fleas start dying, which felt really weird.  She fed me and gave me water.  She brought a chair down from the house so that she could sit with me, hug me, stroke me and play with me.  I was smitten!  And she was, too.

And then the next day another lady came and they put me in a carrier and the other lady took me away.  She took me to see a kind doctor, who took care of me and did some things that changed my mood.  And then I went home with the Judy-Lady (CCRG).  It was nice there, but where was Ella?  I had chosen Ella!  I had watched houses for blocks and blocks around her and I’d decided that hers was where I wanted to live.  I had talked to Ivy, Isabella & Marilyn through the doors and windows.  They were so nice!  They seemed to feel so sad that I didn’t have a home.  They loved their home so much.  They said I should join them.  And that is what I had tried to do.  And here I was in another home, where there were lots of cats who had no home, and I didn’t now what was going to happen.  Judy-Lady took me to an “Adoption Fair” but I would have none of it!  I hissed at every human and every cat there!!  I yelled that I’d already chosen my home, and someone just needed to tell Ella!!  I yelled that I had sister-cats waiting for me at Ella’s house, who wanted me to join them.  It didn’t help.  They took me back to Judy-Lady’s house again, which was much better than being at the adoption fair, but it was not where I wanted to be.

Judy-Lady took me to another adoption fair, and again, I made it perfectly clear that I was NOT available for adoption!!!  Soon, Judy-Lady went on vacation with her husband and Ella offered to keep me while they were away, to give me a break from the “orphanage” for a few weeks.  I knew that this was my chance.  Now that I was flea-free and “fixed,” whatever that means, I got to go into the house.  Ella put me in the “guest room,” so that I was separate from everyone else, but the door was a louvered door so we could talk and sniff, send an inquisitive paw under the door and otherwise communicate.  We quickly decided that we were OK. That we liked each other, and we could be happy together.  They were really sweet and welcoming.

So one day, when Ella opened the door I squirted out and greeted Ivy, Isabella and Marilyn and then they took me on a tour of the house.  They showed me every corner and cupboard, every window, cat tree and observation ledge.  I am so happy to finally call the home that I chose my own home.  I am grateful every day to live in such a home full of love, tenderness, care, and fun and frolicking!

What is your favorite thing or activity to do with your human or pet siblings?
My FAVORITE thing to do with Ella is to snuggle, whether on her lap while she reads the morning paper and has her latte, or in bed while we sleep.  My favorite thing to do with Ella & Mike and Auntie Mary and my siblings is to play.  We LOVE Kitty Kaster, and the fuzzy worm pole toys.  We love some of the weird little battery powered toys that Auntie Mary brings us:  the fox tail, or the battery-powered bugs, or the feather under the umbrella toy.

How do you show your human your love?
I love to sniff and groom their hair!!  I’m a very good stylist!  Especially with the new spikey hairdos!

What is your favorite thing about your human?
I LOVE that she let me into her heart, despite the fact that she already had 3 kitties.  And I love that she knows how smart I am.

What makes the bond you have with your human special?
The fact that I needed help and she recognized that.  Also the fact that I wanted HER and HER family.  She was a little slower to recognize that I was right on this point, but eventually she did.

What makes you or your family unique?
What is really cool about our family is that here, kitties come first.  Most of the furniture is made FOR CATS.  And even the furniture that is made for people is made so that it’s hard for cats to destroy it, OR no one cares if we destroy it.  There are items that we negotiate, like the robot vacuum….NOT a hit at first!!!  But we are used to it now, and don’t mind at all.

Do you have any favorite or special treats?
I LOVE all sorts of treats!  And I’m so smart.  I’m surprised that she hasn’t trained me to do awesome tricks, because I would totally do them!  I love showing off!!

Why do you love being a companion animal?
OMG!  It’s the BEST!!  There is no better life!  It is all that i know.  I had a home before, with my Mom and brothers and sisters.  But the humans didn’t know ANYTHING about how to really care for kittens and cats.  And when my hormones started driving me to behave weirdly, and run around, I got lost and couldn’t find my way back home.  Then when I looked in the windows at Ella’s house, I knew that THIS is my home!!  I just had to make it happen.

What do you think about being our 2023 PAWS Pet Idol?
Being the PAWS Cat Idol is absolutely, positively the COOLEST thing EVER!  I LOVE the work!  I LOVE the attention!  I LOVE the mission!!  Because I almost lost the home that I wanted, I feel a special passion for these cats and dogs who through no fault of their own, nor their care-givers, are at risk of losing those homes, at a time with their care-givers need them absolutely the most of all!!  And they need their persons, more than ever before.  Literally EVERYONE gains by doing all that we can to keep them together!  EVERYONE!!!!  It makes such a difference for the human it should be a “covered health insurance benefit”!!!