National Cat Day occurred this past Sunday, Oct. 29, as a way for America to not only celebrate their pet cats and kittens but also to promote the adoption of cats. The Paisano received many submissions from UTSA student cat owners, and in honor of National Cat Day, we would like to honor them. Thank you to all who submitted to our Instagram, @paisanomedia, and we hope you enjoy.

Hedwig

Caregiver: Nicole De La O

Hedwig is a Russian blue cat named after Harry Potter’s owl, which owner De La O did not realize was a girl owl in the movies until after giving him his name. “I met my cat about a year ago at a boba place back [in] my hometown. He was a three-year-old street cat that would beg and bother the customers for food. I went, and I immediately fell in love with his charisma, so I decided to give him a home, and his old ways stuck to him; he still begs me for treats,” De La O said. 

Hedwig is silly, sleepy and demanding. “I will leave for school and come back, and he will be sleeping in the same position I left him in. He will demand treats, but the good thing is that he will do tricks for them, and of course, with that face, he deserves all the treats in the world.”

Obsidian

Caregiver: Johanna Gutierrez 

Gutierrez describes her start in finding Obsidian: “I was looking up cats for adoption and found him on a random adoption site. I got him at the start of last fall, so I’ve had him for a little over a year. He was probably two to three months [old] at the time. His name is Obsidian, but I call him ‘Obi’ for short. He’s an American medium hair.”

Obsidian is known to be “very chatty, likes to cuddle, friendly and extroverted, and pretty attached to [Gutierrez]. He’s also a big foodie and likes to eat different human foods including fruits. His favorites tend to be pineapple, watermelon and cucumber.”

Cheddar Muffin

Caregiver: Ligia Perry

Cheddar Muffin was found by Perry at the Humane Society of San Antonio about a year and a half ago. Cheddar Muffin is a short-haired cat who is “super cuddly, playful, likes neck kisses, and playing with his bestie Phoebe, [Perry’s] roommate’s cat.”

Perry shares that her favorite memory with Cheddar Muffin is “when he plays monster under the bed and grabs everyone’s legs that stand next to the bed, so everyone screams and gets scared.”

Sasha

Caregiver: Sonia Schoch

Next, we have Sasha, an American medium hair, who was born when Schoch’s family friend’s outdoor cat had a litter of kittens. “She came to us from San Antonio and has voyaged with us in our recent move to Bandera.”

Schoch’s favorite characteristics about Sasha are that she is “spunky and fierce, a spoiled princess who knows she can get her way by cuddling up to you, and she is very sweet.”

Cow and Ohio

Caregiver: Kian Catalani

Ohio and Cow were discovered by Catalani as strays. “We’ve had Ohio for about [a] year, and we got him when he was about six weeks old. We’ve had Cow for about three weeks, and we are unsure how old he is.”

Catalani expressed that he “just recently got Cow, so I wasn’t sure how they would get along, but now I often find Cow attacking and licking Ohio while Ohio lays there and takes it like an old man.” Catalani further describes their personalities: “Ohio is very sassy and demanding, but very affectionate. Cow is very clingy yet reckless.”

Tori

Caregiver: Jillian Sommer

Sommer shares that she “adopted Tori from the Animal Defense League of Texas in October of 2022” and has had Tori for a year now. “When I got her on Oct. 6, 2022, she was three months old. She’s a tortoiseshell breed.”

According to Sommer, “Tortoiseshell cats are known to have “torti-tude” and she definitely has some attitude. She is very loving and very crazy. She gets the zoomies constantly, and she loves her little lime toy my roommate got her.”

“My favorite memory [of] Tori is when I got her. She came up to my boyfriend at the shelter and was playing with his shoelaces. I thought it was so funny how she was running around the whole room being crazy, and I loved how unique she looked because I had never seen a tortoiseshell cat before.”

Peaches

Caregiver: Joey Martin

Martin met Peaches at an animal sanctuary they would frequent when they first moved to San Antonio. They found Peaches when she was a kitten, and she is a domestic shorthair. Peaches is known as a “huge diva; [she] meows anytime she wants anything, but she is my queen, so I always give her love and playtime when she asks.”

Martin’s favorite memory of Peaches is “when she first started playing while standing on two legs — she acts like a meerkat every time we play now; it’s so cute.”

“We got her when she was 8 weeks old in March of 2020, right as the pandemic was starting. We’ve had her [for] almost three and a half years now, and she’s still as sweet as can be.”

Turtle

Caregiver: Sierra Branch

Branch met Turtle in a shelter, and “it was love at first sight.” According to Branch, “she has major tort-itude, but she’s a major people person.”

Branch’s favorite memory with Turtle is “when he left the window open and Turtle and his roommate’s cat were just chilling on the porch for a little while.”

While they do not know her exact age, they “estimate it’s around seven years old, making her around two when [they] got her.”

Tom the Cat

Caregiver: Melanie Hernandez

Tom the Cat was adopted by Hernandez by a family friend. “My mom’s friend had a cat that was pregnant, and once the babies were old enough to part [ways with] the mom, I was able to adopt Tom and his brother Jerry. It was random. I went back home for Thanksgiving and when I returned back, I came back with him.” 

Hernandez got Tom the Cat when he was a kitten, around 2 months old, and had no idea how fluffy he would become. To describe Tom, Hernandez says, “Tom is mischievous, loving, a bit of [a] guard dog, stinky and very huggable.”

Nala and Wizza

Caregiver: Jaret Rodriguez

Nala, named after the character from “The Lion King,” is an orange cat that was first introduced to Rodriguez through his oldest sister. “[My sister] could not take care of her anymore, so I took her in,” he explained. Rodriguez knows Nala to be “very playful, loving and curious.” The funniest story Rodriguez can recall with Nala is a time in which “we first gave her catnip. She was going crazy for hours.”

Nala has a black and white older sister named Wizza, also owned by Rodriguez. “We liked the way the name Wizza sounded,” he explained. Wizza was a stray cat before she came into Rodriguez’s

life and is described as “very needy and talkative. She’s very territorial when it comes to other animals, but she is a silly little girl.” Wizza is currently sixteen years old and Nala is seven.

I hope to inspire UTSA to celebrate National Cat Day by visiting your local shelters and considering adoption if having a pet works for you. To view more pet submissions from other UTSA student cat owners, see the photo gallery below.