Cassidy Havens, Sabby, Maiden & Motley
Growing up in rural Mississippi, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have a pet; my social anxiety as a child made it difficult for me to feel connected to my peers, and I relied a lot on my dogs and cats over the years as a source of emotional comfort. So when I moved to New York City in 2008 for college, surprisingly one of the biggest adjustments for me was the void of not having a pet.
When I came home from my freshman year, I knew that I wanted a cat. I found a “free to good home” advertisement in the classifieds of my paper and arranged to pick up my now-fifteen-year-old cat. In retrospect, and with some experience fostering bottle babies, he couldn’t have been more than five or six weeks old. My nineteen-year-old self didn’t realize how being adopted so young could negatively impact him at the time, but he was also living outside and the person who was giving him away was going to “get rid of him soon” if he wasn’t adopted. One of the most interesting things during that exchange: the woman who was giving him away wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to harm him in any way since apparently, people adopt black cats to do that. So I took this tiny, bobble-headed little kitten home with me and named him Black Sabbath (Sabby for short).
My family and I have always joked that Sabby lives up to his name. During his first Christmas when he was about six months old, he famously peed all over my stepdad’s extensive “Christmas village” set-up. I can’t prove it—but my stepdad isn’t the most cat-friendly person —and I am pretty sure Sabby did it out of spite!
Over the past 15 years, Sabby’s and my relationship has changed and grown so much. We’ve moved cross-country together (twice), dealt with roommates, break-ups, health scares, and more. I love that he is such a social, curious cat. Whenever a person comes over to my apartment, he wants to greet them and be in on all of the action. He spends a lot of his day staring out either the front or back windows of my apartment, watching what’s happening on my street, taking stock of the birds and squirrels in the backyard, and begging for me to put cat TV on. After my late cat Lizzy passed away a couple of years ago, he’s taken to cuddling in bed with me regularly, and always needs his early morning snuggles.
When Sabby was around seven years old, I went through a rough breakup. It was my first long-term relationship and over the subsequent months, it became apparent to me that it was going to take a while to process. I felt like I needed an addition to my family not only to help me work through what I was feeling but because Sabby was still pretty playful and beginning to bother the adopted cat (Lizzy) that my ex left behind. Everything kind of fell into place in November 2016 when my mom sent me a picture of a litter of kittens her friend had found in the woods, cared for, and was attempting to adopt out in Alabama. I knew as soon as I saw this cute tabby kitten’s face that she belonged with me. Fortunately, my brother was making the drive from Alabama to New York to spend the holidays with me, so she hitched a ride with him. To fit in with my rock band theme, I named her Iron Maiden—Maiden for short.
Like Sabby, she very much lives up to her name. I’ve never met a sweeter—but more skittish— kitty. For the longest time, she exclusively slept between my knees underneath the blankets, purring like a motor and leaving little scratch marks on my legs from kneading.
One of Maiden’s funniest quirks is the random items she’s decided to be scared of. For instance, if she sees a Coca-Cola bottle, her eyes immediately get as big as saucers because she’s afraid of the hiss of carbonation. Plastic bags are her ultimate nemesis, and heavy boots will send her hiding under a bed. Even with all of the coaxing I could think of during the GATC photoshoot—she still would not come out!!!
Another one of my favorite things about her is that she prefers to nap beneath blankets. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve almost sat/laid on her, and now it is part of my routine to check under any blanket before I pick it up or lay on it. Usually, she has a good sense of when I’m in the room and will give me a warning chirp when she knows I’m near.
Maiden typically spends her days in the same room as me, if not right by my side. She makes frequent guest appearances on work Zooms.
In late 2022, I was starting to feel like Sabby and Maiden were both getting bored and needed a new, fresh face around to keep their energy levels up. I started looking into local adoption groups and went to an adoption event at Bushwick Bark. I was initially interested in another kitten, but one of the adopters directed me to a terrified little black and white kitten. She reminded me so much of my late cat Lizzy, who passed away in 2021 due to complications from diabetes and cancer, that I applied for her on the spot.
That’s when Motley joined our lives—and she has certainly kept energy levels up in the house ever since! She’s obsessed with her big sister Maiden and mirrors everything that she does, including hiding, meowing for treats, and snuggling with me in bed.
Her favorite pastime is parkouring off of any surface imaginable—she loves to jump five feet off the ground and try to climb door frames—and she loves spending mornings in my living room chattering at the light reflected on the ceiling from my TV.
Cassidy Havens is a beverage communications expert and lifelong student of wine, residing in Bushwick.