Alison Turka, Layla & Penelope
My family has always been big on pets, and having a furry friend or two at home is pretty much my baseline. So when I moved to New York in the summer of 2012, I got the keys to my apartment on July 1 and on July 2 I promptly went to the ASPCA to get a cat.
Layla, who was two years old at the time, was one of the first cats I saw. I went up to her crate and she gently pawed at the door like she was asking to come home with me. As I walked around to see some of the other cats, I grew increasingly nervous that someone else would pick her before me, and realized I couldn’t let that happen. So, one Layla, please!
The ASPCA gave all of their cats a personality type, and they dubbed Layla a “Personal Assistant”. It couldn’t be more accurate. Unless she’s relaxing in her heated bed or splashing around in her water bowl (which I keep in the bathtub to contain the mess), she’s curled up next to or on top of me. She follows me around the apartment all of the time, sitting on the bathroom sink while I brush my teeth, she likes to hang out in the bathroom while I shower, and she claims half of my pillow in bed every night. My partner Tim and I call her our chaperone because she’ll always come over and squeeze herself right between us any time we’re on the couch together. She also has what we’ve nicknamed “resting concerned face”. Between her tabby facial markings and big green eyes, she has a funny, worried look on her face a lot of the time. It fits in with her chaperone vibe, but don’t worry, it’s an expression of curiosity more than anything else.
One thing that always gets Layla purring is being brushed. It’s her favorite thing in the entire world and I can’t emphasize enough how much she loves it. If you put the brush down before she’s had her fill, she’ll start brushing herself by rubbing her face against it, or knock it off the table as a cry for more. Whenever she has a lengthy vet visit, I put a brush in her carrier and tell them how much she loves it. I think the vets often underestimate it because when I pick her up, someone invariably says something like “Wow, you weren’t kidding about that brush!”
“The cats coexist and each has their respective toys and nap spots, but ultimately, Layla’s in charge.”
Five years and three apartments after I brought Layla home, Penelope came into the picture as a result of me passively browsing Petfinder. I wasn’t intending to get a second cat but I just couldn’t say no to that tiny, black fluffball on the screen. She’d originally been found as a stray in Houston and was evacuated to New York ahead of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Bringing her home caught Tim by surprise, but he’s grown to love her just as much as I do. Layla, on the other hand, has not. The cats coexist and each has their respective toys and nap spots, but ultimately, Layla’s in charge.
When it’s just Tim and me at home, Penelope is out and about, usually in search of a hair tie on the floor to play with, but she’s extremely skittish around anyone else. As soon as she hears our apartment buzzer, she sprints into our bedroom and hides. She’s very good at it, too. A friend who was staying at our apartment once panicked thinking he had lost Penelope because it took him so long to find her. And my dad and some of our friends actually joke that we made her up because they’ve never seen her!
Despite her social anxiety (which I empathize with), Penelope is a very chatty, active cat. For one thing, she is very vocal about her intolerance for closed doors. She never goes into the room after you open the door for her, though, she just wants the option to go in. She loves sprawling out on the floor for belly rubs, even when we’re on the other side of the room. I’ve nicknamed her “Ploppy” because she kind of just plops and flops her way around the apartment. She also frequently drags her favorite wand toy around in search of a free-handed human, which is hilarious because the toy is twice her length. Her favorite time to play is, of course, after Tim and I have gotten into bed, and I’m sure our downstairs neighbors love hearing her leap around at midnight. The toy has broken a few times, but I keep taping it back together because I can’t find the same one again and no other wand will do. Trust me, I’ve tried.
In the summer of 2021, when Layla was 11, I noticed a lump on her stomach which turned out to be a very aggressive form of mammary cancer. We treated it with surgery to remove both of her mammary chains, plus a round of chemo. I learned that most cats tolerate chemo very well with few side effects, including no hair loss, in case you were wondering! She did lose most of her fluffy belly as a result of the surgeries, though, and as much as I miss the floof, it’s a trivial price to pay.
Unfortunately, now 13, Layla has some cancer recurrence and is in mid- to late-stage kidney failure. It’s impossible to know how much time she has left, but I make sure she seems happy and that I appreciate every day I have with her. I think Penelope can sense that Layla is no longer in her prime, so she’s started to assert herself a bit more. Perhaps she’ll even be open to meeting other humans one day!
While it will be rewarding to see Penelope graduate to alpha cat, I struggle to imagine what my life will be like without Layla. I’ve lived all 11 years and five apartments in New York with her, and have cumulatively spent more time with her in the last decade than any human. Grief from losing a pet is very real and no one should feel embarrassed by it. They are our best friends and we have to hope they know how much they mean to us. So for now, I make sure to get in as many cuddles and brushings with Layla as I can. ♥️
Alison is a Product Manager living in Brooklyn, New York with her partner Tim.