This is Bootsie. I never had the opportunity to meet Bootsie, but I fell in love with her from hearing her story and seeing her pictures. Doesn’t she look like a really cool cat?
I received this story from a friend when I was writing Catscapades, True Cat Tales. She thought my readers would be interested in Bootsie’s story of serendipity, and I’m sure they are.
One spring, this full-grown black-and-white 
cat showed up at Ann’s door. She opened it and the cat walked in, as if to say, “Hello, I belong here now.” When it appeared the cat was staying, Ann named her Bootsie. Even though she was allowed to go outside, Bootsie never left the yard.
A few years later, Ann was chatting with a neighboring farmer when he saw the cat lounging on Ann’s porch. He said, “Hey, that’s Bootsie!”
Ann was surprised and asked, “How do you know Bootsie?”
The farmer explained, “She was one of my barn cats until she disappeared a couple of years ago.”
I found that story interesting for a couple of reasons. Obviously Bootsie had higher expectations for her life than living in a barn—Cinderella might have been an appropriate name for her. But it’s the naming of the cat that intrigues me the most. If the cat’s name had been Boots, Socks, Mittens, Oreo, perhaps, I wouldn’t be as surprised, but for both owners to call her Bootsie—that is unusual. In fact I just looked at a list of the 100 most popular cat names. Socks, Mittens, Oreo, are all there, but not Bootsie. One has to wonder, did the cat bring her name with her and somehow communicate it to Ann?
