Liz Heisler & Meredith
I’m from the Midwest, so if you had told me when I was younger that I’d be an adult in NYC with cat(s), I would have told you that you are crazy. When I moved into my first apartment in Chicago by myself (after years of living with my best friend, Katie, and her cat, Lidia), I decided I needed a pet to keep me company.
I adopted Meredith in December 2013, on a whim, after seeing her the on Anti-Cruelty Society’s website. At the time, I was living in Chicago and I already had Matthew (another tuxedo and the sweetest boy ever) and I thought he needed a buddy. She had almost identical markings as Matthew and I also adopted him from ACS, so I thought it was a sign. Matthew was 3 at the time, so he was still a frisky teen cat, but the adjustment to having a kitten sibling was a lot! I have so many pictures of her being absolutely wild and him looking at the camera like “Mom you have ruined my life!” Eventually, they became buds. Matthew passed away this past September, so Mere and I are still adjusting, but she is certainly thriving as the center of attention!
Mere has always been a champion lurker—she will sit across a room and just stare, not blinking, until you crack and look away. Meredith has always been very sweet and likes to snuggle, but Matthew was an extreme clinger and hogged all my lap time. I think she knew her place in the power structure, so she let him call the shots. Now that it is just the two of us, she has become my little sidekick. She still is an independent woman, but she lurks less and snuggles more.
“She is not a morning person. I chuckle almost daily when I get up for work or the gym and she will be curled up on the couch and look at me like I’m crazy for being awake. She won’t even get up when I put food in her bowl. What a life!”
Her current favorite location is a little window ledge, right above the radiator. It brings her two favorite things together: the NYC radiator heat and lurking while perched. She is not a morning person. I chuckle almost daily when I get up for work (I am back in the office) or the gym and she will be curled up on the couch and look at me like I’m crazy for being awake. She won’t even get up when I put food in her bowl. What a life!
She’s an established food thief. From her earliest days, she was swiping food off plates—pizza, chips, lettuce, you name it, she doesn’t discriminate. One day I came home from work and found a raw chicken cutlet on the floor. I must not have closed the refrigerator door all the way when I left for work… so when I got home, I was greeted with pieces of cutlet all over my apartment.
Meredith is also a great traveler. I’ve never met a cat who loved their carrier as much as she does. During the pandemic, we spent a lot of time with my folks in Wisconsin, so we’ve driven halfway across the country twice and we’ve also flown four times. She has a bubblegum pink harness and leash and she is such a ham at the airport. She loves people-watching during our layovers at O’Hare. Without fail, someone always asks if they can take a picture of her. (I say yes, of course!)
I often refer to Meredith as my little menace cat or “Night Mere” (shoutout to my sister-in-law, Allison, for that name), but she truly is the sweetest girl. She lives life on her own terms and I can’t imagine life without her, she makes me smile daily. I share Meredith pics on our IG page: @windycitykitties.
Liz works for an asset management firm in Midtown and lives on the Upper East Side. She is a marathon runner, an avid book reader, a Swiftie, and a loving cat mom. She is from Chicago, but now calls New York City home.