Tyler McCall & Evie
My boyfriend Sam is the one who adopted Evie. He had her for about a year before we met and I was actually more nervous to meet the cat because I knew he loved her so much, and I was worried she wouldn’t like me. Luckily, she did like me and now we’re very attached. Sam’s mom likes to say that she’s the one that first saw Evie in the shelter when Sam went to adopt a cat, but I think there’s a debate there. He says she wasn’t like any of the other cats; she came right up to the door of the cage and when he picked her up, she was instantly really cuddly and affectionate.I grew up with cats — there was Tigger, and then Garfield and Midnight (my brother and I were not creative with names) — and I loved them, but they were all indoor/outdoor cats and couldn’t be bothered with us most of the time. Not Evie! She’s pretty dog-like: She runs to the door when we come home, she loves to cuddle in our laps and she even knows her name. She swishes her tail around if you say it, and we’ve tested it out with similar sounding words, but it only works with her name. She’ll also do this thing where she’ll climb onto your chest and smash her head into your mouth for “kisses.” She’ll do it on command, too, if you make a kissy sound. It’s really cute. When Sam showed me this trick, I couldn’t believe it and I think most people don’t believe me when I say it either. You can sit her in your lap or swaddle her in your arms the way you would a human baby, and she doesn’t fight you on it at all. (I think she actually likes it.) I have never met a more tolerant cat.
Evie is the funniest cat I’ve ever met with her own little personality. If she accidentally falls or her nails get caught in something, she acts embarrassed. One time, she got her claws stuck in a stuffed animal we had on a shelf and she just left her arm hanging in the air, pretending like she was comfortable sitting like that. She’s also so smart — maybe even too smart for us. She knows how easy it is to manipulate us to get something she wants because she’s so cute and we love her so much. There was a while where she’d come in the bedroom at 5 AM and meow really loudly until Sam got out of bed. She didn’t ever need anything, she just wanted him to come cuddle with her on the couch. He also got her jumping up on the kitchen bar when he leaves for work so she can say goodbye and get kisses. Evie knows when you’re taking pictures of her, too. She’ll pose if you catch her in the right mood. She’s a little hambone.We had a vet who did house calls until very recently and he called her a “one-in-ten cat” and an “honor-roll patient,” both of which made me very proud. She never hisses or scratches or tries to pull away from anyone, and she doesn’t run and hide when people come to the apartment — not even strangers. She’s very content to be an inside cat, I think. She never tries to make a run for the door, except one time she slipped out past us when food delivery showed up. She just stopped dead in the hallway! I don’t think she knew what to do with herself. Evie has never been interested in human food, either. She’s perfectly content with normal, dry food. Like I said, she’s not like any other cat I’ve ever known.[gallery ids="2831,2825" type="rectangular"]
My mom gifted me a purse she bought from Net-a-Porter one Christmas after Sam and I moved in together, and I left the black packaging box on the floor. It took Evie about two seconds to claim it as her own and now it’s her favorite spot. I can never get rid of it. It’s to the point where I refresh the tissue paper inside of it so it’s always fluffed up for her. Sam’s parents bought her a mouse house for Christmas, and she’ll go in it sometimes — mainly if it’s cold — but she loves that damn box. She also has a favorite toy: It’s a little dragonfly that I think she’s had since Sam adopted her, and she’ll carry it around the house if she’s stressed, like when Sam leaves for work in the morning.Evie gets mad at me when I leave for fashion month or another work trip and she pretends like she doesn’t want anything to do with me for about a half hour after I’m back, but the next day she gets super clingy. Evie is such a special cat, it’s hard to imagine life without her now.
Tyler McCall is the deputy editor of Fashionista.com and a recovering One Direction fan girl. A Florida native, she lives in New York City with her boyfriend and their cat Evie.