Ali Kasper, Senator & Francis
Before meeting my girlfriend, I always considered myself a dog person. But when I met her cat--Senator Milk Mann (AKA Milky, Milk Boy, or Senny) --I fell in love. Everything from the beauty mark on his nose to his chubby little dad bod and even his grumpy old man personality had me charmed. After becoming so smitten with Senny, it wasn’t long before I started wanting a cat of my own. This desire was fueled further by the fact that Senny seemed lonely. Then finally, one morning when we were casually scrolling through the Oregon Humane Society site, we spotted Francis (formerly Franklin), a tiny little tuxedo kitten.
We hopped in the car to go meet him. On the way, my girlfriend tried to set my expectations low and tell me it was unlikely that we would leave with a kitten but once we were in the room with him, it was over. He was so timid and sweet, it didn't take even a full five minutes before we decided to take him home. What really sold us on him though, was that Senator is white with a black spot on his nose, and this little black tuxedo had a white spot on his nose. The yin and yang of cats. [gallery ids="1999,1998" type="rectangular"]Similar to their appearances, their personalities could not be more different. While Senator is confident and social, Francis is bashful and skittish (and apparently, camera shy!). Despite their differences though, they are best friends--truly inseparable. We’ll often catch them spooning in a pile of blankets, and they will look up at us like teenagers caught home alone. I’ve been told the way they interact with each other is very rare, and I feel so lucky to have two cats that are so obsessed with each other.
Still a Wisconsinite at heart, Ali Kasper now lives in Portland, Oregon as a graphic designer specializing in lettering and typography.