Amanda Barstow & Roscoe

 "Despite his allergies, my boyfriend Vinny fell in love with a super friendly street cat who used to snooze in front of his friend’s building in Red Hook. Vinny told me about Roscoe (named by folks in the neighborhood) so I immediately rode my bike over to meet Roscoe and he jumped right into my lap. The deal was sealed.He had been hanging around that street for a year or so. Red Hook has a few feral cat communities, but this guy was clearly domesticated and didn't run with the pack. While I started to make plans for this new addition to my life, Roscoe was getting into fights with some other cats in the hood and ended up with a torn ear and scratches all over his chest. At this point I knew we had to act fast and picked up a cat carrier and a can of tuna and set out to cat-nap this adorable street cat.Even though it was Vinny’s idea to adopt Roscoe, the cat would have to live with me full time because of his allergies. He spent the first few hours in my apartment hiding under my bed and I was convinced I had made a terrible mistake, but he eventually got hungry and was snoozing on my couch in no time. The next day we took him to the vet and found out he was about a year and a half old, hadn't been fixed and had worms. Other than that, the vet said he was the cleanest street cat he had ever seen!Now, three years later, he is the love of my life. He greets me with head butts when I come home, follows me around everywhere I go, sits on my keyboard when I'm trying to work, somehow manages to open the bathroom door when I am taking a shower and sleeps either between my legs or in my arms every night. In addition to being a first class snuggler, he is also super athletic, can jump insanely high and his eye/paw coordination is unparalleled. I couldn't imagine my life without him! And thankfully Vinny loves him just as much as I do and his allergies aren't too bad as long as he takes a Claritin.”Amanda Barstow is the Manager of Sales and Product Development for Out of Print, a literary lifestyle brand that launched in 2010. She lives in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.