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Hi! How’s life treating you? Mine is great. My name is Keanu, nicknamed Kiki or “Blue Garfield” when I get into a little . . . just a little trouble! I just finished taking my daily nap on the hamoc that’s on the terrace. It’s my favorite place because I can see everything that goes on around the house. I’m a guard cat, nothing escapes me. At the bottom of the hill lies Trieste, the houses . . . the sea. I also like the water by the lagoon, because when summer comes, along with George, Alessandra and the boys we move to Grado. There, we live in the center of town, and there’s always people coming and going. I sit by the window and I have fun watching everything that goes on. What a life!
I’m born in Trieste, on August 8, 2004 (zodiac sign: Leo) and I’m the last of 9 brothers and sisters. I was so small that my mother (Foffi) couldn’t feed me and so with lots of patience Alessandra, and especially Matteo, fed me by bottle. Now, I’ve become huge and I’ve forgotten all about those days. My attachment for Matteo, however, has not changed. When he’s home, we’re always together . . . we play . . . we joke around . . . we sleep . . . we study and so, thanks to him, I’ve learned a little about the history of Chartreux cats. The Chartreux is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful cats that exist, and I’m not saying that with vanity. The expression of our faces is irresistible because it looks like we’re always smiling.
Our race was selected in France n the 700’s and since it’s always has been considered the national cat of France. It became the symbol of France because it was the cat preferred by General Charles de Gaulle. The famous female writer Colette, who dedicated her 1933 book “The Cat” to one of her own Chartreux, loved to spend time with her cats. She wrote about them: “The best company never has less than four legs” and also “The idea that the cats have about comfort is absolutely incomprehensible to humans.” Unfortunately the Chartreux hasn’t always been appreciated for companionship. In the 700’s it was raised for food and for its thick fur, to the touch very similar to that of the otter. It was in the furrier shops that the French gray cat, as it was called then, got the name of Chartreux. On the tables of textile merchants the best and most precious materials were that of the gray cats . . . and a yarn that came from Spain that was called “yarn of little Chartreux”. Both were remarkably soft, and so, little by little, that’s how the cat came to be identified and so term “Chartreux” was given to the cat. But even further in time we can find mention of the first ancestors of the Chartreux cats. In many texts, from 1500 on, gray haired cats are mentioned as coming from Siria, Cyprus, Malta, all places that are tightly connected to the itineraries of the Crusades. The arrival of these cats from the Orient via the Crusades, becomes a concrete theory. Legend has it that the name Chartreux is tied to the fact the the Templars arriving in France after their trip to the Holy Land, would go to the monastery of the Grand Charteuse to restore their minds and bodies, bringing with them gray haired cats that in times of pestilence and famine were considered a precious gift since they were great mice hunters. What do say, are we or are we not a cat with an interesting past?
Keanu
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