As we usher in the holiday season, we are honored to present you with our furry four-legged elf  “Hemingway Tiberius.” This handsome young kitty is a gent of many talents. His companion Arianna was generous enough to provide us with more insight into this fascinating fellow.

Name: Hemingway Tiberius
Age: 1.5 years
Breed: Tabby
Likes: Sleeping under the covers, watching “Tarzan”, bird-watching, Christmas tree ornaments, sun-bathing in front of windows, chicken, Dr. Reid
Dislikes: Bath time, traveling, fish, being left alone, sleeping in his own bed, vacuum cleaners, earthquakes, dogs, the sound of men’s shoes on the hardwood floor

“I fell in love when I first held him and he gave me a nose kiss. I wanted to make sure I gave him a dignified name, and settled on Hemingway Tiberius on a hunch that he would grow into his name. When I finally took him home from Berkeley Animal Services, he immediately began to explore his new home, getting himself stuck behind the refrigerator and trying to run up the chimney. Within days he was sleeping under the covers with me, and spending the day sun-bathing and bird-watching in front of the window. Hemingway’s first Christmas was an eventful one, and had our household replacing a Christmas tree he managed to knock down three times.

Hemingway’s intelligence has certainly surprised me over the past year and a half. He knows that the sound of the pantry opening means it’s breakfast time, he has figured out how to open sliding doors and swinging cabinets, he puts his toys back into his play cube when he is done playing with them, and even knows how a doorknob works! (Although, his attempts at opening a door consist of batting at the doorknob with his paws). When he’s not getting in places he shouldn’t be in, you can find him staring out the window trying to intimidate squirrels, or holding conversations with the neighborhood felines.

We celebrated Hemingway’s 1st birthday on the 4th of July with a BBQ and small gathering of friends. While the birthday boy didn’t seem to love all of the attention he was getting, he certainly loved the fun gifts he received. As he’s gotten more comfortable with people, he has taken to greeting folks with a nose kiss, often dishing out multiple kisses for his “special humans”. Perhaps my favorite thing about living with Hemingway is coming home from work and seeing his adorable face peeking out from behind a curtain, waiting for me. I’m sure this adorable ball of fur would have been adopted in a heartbeat, and I am thankful to have walked into Berkeley Animal Services just in time to have Hemingway walk into my life.”

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