I am going to try to make it through this post without crying but there are no guarantees. Last week, Jonathan Van Ness lost his cat, Bug, unexpectedly. Bug’s full name was Bug the 2nd and was named after Jonathan’s 13-year-old cat named Bug who passed away last year. Obviously, Jonathan was devastated and so were we when we read the sad news.
Monday, we got some good news: Jonathan has made room in his heart for two new babies, Genevieve and Mathilda. Gigi and Mattie (my nicknames, not his) join Jonathan’s other two cats, Harry Larry and Liza. Brace yourself, they are adorbs:
These two little beauties were adopted form the Pennsylvania SPCA. Those videos are precious. I don’t know who is who, but I feel like Genevieve is the blonde. Look at her little air kneading, I love when cats do that. And don’t get me started on Mathilda – my gawd but I’m a sucker for a tortie. My daughter volunteers for the ASPCA and they do advocate for cats to be adopted together so it’s great that he has the means to do so. (All rescues are wonderful, though, so if you can’t do two, one is perfectly fine.)
So I’m not crying yet, but I’m close. I’ve had major Kitty Fever of late. I lost my cat, Loki, not long ago. He was a big, black-haired guy like Bug and, tragically, he met with a violent end as well (coyote). After losing his sister, Pandora, last year, I am now cat-less, the first time in 27 years and I am gutted. But my adopted dogs are Jindos and all the reading cautions me about bringing new cats into the home given the dogs instincts to chase (Loki and Pandora were fine because they were in the home first.) Jindos can co-exist with cats, but the books say it takes training and time to properly introduce them and I don’t know that I am trained well enough, so I’d hire a professional before I bring a cat in here. But I definitely have a cat-sized hole I need filled.
But this post wasn’t supposed to be about me feeling sorry for myself, this is about Jonathan welcoming these two precious little girls into his life. I know they will be well-loved, and I hope they become regulars on his Instagram (although, Larry, as the oldest, gets the most photographic air time).
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos
I’m sure he’s a great guy but I can’t with that spray-on looking beard.
Thank you. It’s terrible.
Yeah, the beard in the formal shots is really not good. It looks so much better in the casual one.
My God I am a sucker for a tortie as well. I had a grey/ peach little girl and she was the best. My daughter has been asking for a kitten, might be time to surprise her.
I needed to see this right now. We had to put our cat to sleep yesterday unexpectedly due to an untreatable virus. I have anxiety and depression and she was like my therapy cat. I feel lost and have already looked at adopting again from the shelter, but have felt guilty even looking. Then I read this article and realized that we rescued Emma and loved her so much, I know she would want want us to help another cat. I’m not ready yet, but am definitely following him on social media when I am ready to see cat pictures.
I’m so, so, so sorry for your loss 🙁 I had developed PTSD when my baby came into my life and I honestly would not have gotten through it without her. Me and Hattie are sending our condolences and furbellypurrs.
I am so sorry. It’s always so hard.
I went through it myself a couple of years ago, and started looking quickly too. My house felt empty without a cat. I felt guilty too, but when you’re ready, and you’ll know when you are, you can adopt and save a life. (Or two! My two have so much fun together.)
Laura Cee, I am sooo very sorry. My heart aches for you. Hugs!
OHHHHHH I love his expression in that first vid – it’s like The Universal Face of New Rescue Kitten Parent <3 <3 My little girl and I started living together (she was surviving on lizards in my yard and I convinced her to move in) 2 years ago and she is quite literally one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. Kitties are magicccccallllll.
What I want to know is, how did he make his other kitties so accepting?!?!?! I had an insanely adorable 4 week old show up on my doorstep a month ago, and baby #1 (she's 3) was so mad she refused to come in the house for a whole week. His are already playing together!!
The joys of introducing pets! I never had the experience of two cats taking to each other that quickly, either. But eventually they figure it out.
I volunteer at a shelter and we tell people to keep them separated to begin with, while periodically have them swapping spaces so they can smell each other without the trauma of actually seeing each other. You also want to have them eat together with a door between them. It eases the first who-the-hell-is-that meeting so they don’t freak out so much.
I love JVN, this warms my heart
I have basically two sets of cats that stay in separate rooms. They get turns having run of the place, and it has worked.
Rather than try to introduce new, kind of jumpy kittens to our existing felines (been there/done that), keeping the original cats separate seemed easier. As long as each little group gets their roaming time, they are ready to go back to their room and rest up. Close the door and the other cats (or dogs) get their quality time.
I brought home a kitten to keep my then 7 year old poodle mix company after losing my other dog. He was only about 8 – 10 weeks old when he came home from the shelter and it took him exactly 1 day to come out from the spare room and take over the house… and the dog bed. They are now the best of buds (4 years and counting). It was recommended to us to bring in a kitten instead of an adult cat if we wanted them to have a better chance at getting along and I think that was great advice although I know of lots of people who have adopted adult cats with dogs in the house….I wouldn’t over think it. My experience with animals is they quickly figure out who is who in the zoo and basically just get along or ignore each other. There are so many waiting to be adopted to good homes. 🙂
Hecate, we’ve had great success introducing cats into our home with 2 large dogs. We put them in a down/stay( and leave them there for a good long while) and let the cat/kitten snoop around and check them out. Our doodle submits immediately and our poodle usually takes a couple of days before she stops looking like she wants to snack on the kitty. They want to chase other cats but they peacefully co-exist with ours.
Love him. My two rescues give this four pages up.
“…every little thing he does is magic…”
I am so here for JVN, he truly owns who he is, and lets that freak flag fly! And congratulations to him for his two new fur babies! I love that he is promoting adoption from shelters too!
Also, Hecate, I am sorry you are catless for the first time in 27 years. I am in exactly the same boat! And I am a Crazy Cat Lady, now a CCL without a compass (catpass). It’s super weird. But I live with 4 dogs at the moment, and one of them is definitely not cat friendly, so it just wouldn’t be fair to a kitty. I look forward to the day I can have one, maybe two … ok, 37 cats!
So sorry for your losses, Hecate. Whether you believe pets are just buddies we take care of (my partner) or our babies (me) losing them is so awful. We had to put down our 6-month-old kitten about a year and a half ago when a congenital brain defect surfaced that took away his ability to walk, eat, and even move within a matter of 5 days. (We ended up donating his body to a local university vet program so they could do an autopsy and hopefully help other families spot this sooner. The autopsy showed it was actually a very rare virus that was probably incurable.) We had his biological sibling Sonoma and she was just lost and lonely without him. We got another kitten soon after and he’s been a great addition. Nobody can replace her brother but Sonoma loves the company ♥️ I’m a “worst case scenario” kind of person where I think about the worst things as a way to feel mentally prepared for them. I think about the three cats I have now and how devastated I will be to lose them someday. Loki and Pandora were lucky to have a mom who loved them so much 😊 take on a new one when you feel ready.
LORD, my partner and I just adopted two kitty sisters and they have just totally completed our little family. They are so funny and sassy!!! I didn’t realize how much of a cat person I was until we had two! And I agree, cats are SO much easier than dogs so getting two instead of one doesn’t seem any harder than having one because they train each other and play with one another. As I understand it, that helps curb bad behaviors like clawing and biting, etc. They’re just the best. So happy for Jonathan and his new fur-babies!
I highly recommend getting 2. Mine are siblings and they do fight like crazy, but they also have a lot of fun and keep each other company. They take out a lot of energy on each other, that’s for sure.
Don’t tell my family, but I’m actually warming to our little tortie, Pepper. She’s our cat-dog-baby. Since we found her, I’ve kinda learned about their funny personalities, and Pepper doesn’t disappoint. I swear, this thing demands, at least once a day, to be picked up and cradled like a baby or slung over your shoulder while you do stuff. So weird!
Don’t worry Mab’s, your secret is safe with us. We WOULD NEVER tell!
A little advice – be sure no one else sees you pick up Pepper, cradle Pepper like a baby, smell how yummy Pepper smells, and then cover Pepper with baby kisses before you swing Pepper over your shoulder while you do stuff around the house. This would DEF blow your cover!
Lmao. I’m fairly certain they’ve heard our convos. I baby talk, and she meows. This goes back and forth until I call it quits. I tell her to stop shredding paper towels and toilet paper, she’s says okay. I tell her to stop crawling into the fridge when it’s open, she’s says it has smells and things. I tell her to quit flinging her poo out of the litter and she tells me she hates cheap litter. I tell her to quit coming in the bathroom when it’s occupied, and she says…no.
Mabs – I am really glad you are addressing these behaviors with Pepper, but all of that is clearly laid out in her Cat Contract that she signed at birth. She is just doing her job. Shredding paper – check. Flinging poo – check. Crawling in the fridge when the door is open is some advanced level cat behavior so props to you for choosing an intelligent cat!
About the bathroom, I will try to be as gentle as possible… What’s happening is, YOU are in HER bathroom. You are occupying her space. She’s coming in to be sure that what is happening in there is acceptable to her. So when you tell her to leave, she realizes that she has ALOT more training to do with you, you really haven’t grasped the concept yet. But not to worry. She will keep coming in until you stop flapping your gums every time she opens the door. Pepper is patient, and she knows eventually, you will get trained.
I don’t know who he is, but I adore his whole look.
I have no idea who he is either but the video put a smile on my face and my rescue also have it a thumbs up.