Beth Scheppke & Clover
We frequently refer to Clover as “our special guy”. He has a pink nose and pink beans. He has no teeth and no neck! He’s also 7, which is special because he has Feline Leukemia (FeLV+) which is a chronic illness known to shorten a cat’s lifespan. At his last check-up, our vet mentioned many FeLV+ cats don’t make it past 5. Though Clover shows absolutely no signs of going anywhere, we still cherish every single day we get to live with this vibrant, outgoing, and adorable little animal.
Clover has come a long way since my boyfriend and I adopted him back in 2020. We adopted him through the Brooklyn Cat Cafe, but before that, they assumed he lived mostly as a street cat. After he was rescued from somewhere in the Bronx, beyond needing to be fixed he had filthy ears, a mouthful of rotten teeth, intestinal worms, and loose stools. I remember he had a thin, raspy meow, almost like he had a sore throat. After extensive dental work, medications, and lots of wrapping him up in a towel burrito for ear cleanings, I’d say he’s had quite the glow-up. I’m not sure if I’m happy to report this, but I can report that his meow is now piercing and unignorable.
One thing we noticed right away with Clover is his major tomcat vibes. He loved to shmooze and be the center of attention. In his past life, despite him being kinda gross, I imagine that he was quite the ladies' man, picking up chicks left and right. Whenever I’m in the Bronx I always wonder if I’ll spot any of his relatives.
We also believe that his history has led to his three main passions in life: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This cat would happily eat all day if he could. He must be so stoked that a decent meal just appears in front of him multiple times per day. He also doesn’t let his toothlessness stop him from going for our human food. We’ve learned to watch our plates because we’ve seen him go for Christmas cookies, spanikopita, eggplant parm, and spicy beef stew.
Clover’s other pastimes include napping face down, cuddling, playing, and sitting inside boxes. He also likes to sit on my boyfriend’s lap while he works from home. I’ve never met such an athletic cat. He will often pull a toy out of his toy pile and start playing with it himself. We’ll just sit and watch him as he darts around the apartment.
I think Clover knows he has a bright white coat because he is a vigilant groomer. Sometimes when he’s going hard on grooming we sing him a little parody of the late 90’s club hit ‘Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!’ by the Vengaboys, changing the lyrics to, “Groom, Groom, Groom, Groom!!”. He must think we are so annoying.
Beth is a birth doula, classically trained vocalist, and an amateur long-distance runner based in Brooklyn, NY.