Mágico, being the magical cat that he is, completely changed my parents' perspective on animals. For the first time in his life, my dad could hold a cat without breaking out in hives!
When we were growing up, all I always wanted a pet I could hold. A fish or a bird never quite did it for me. After lots of begging, my parents finally said yes to an outdoor rabbit named Pepper, who lived in a backyard cage. I spent that whole summer outside with him, soaking up as much time as I could letting him run around the yard. But Pepper was never allowed inside.
The narrative was “no animals indoors. Dad is allergic.”
When I was 6, we once tried getting a guinea pig, but when my dad held him in the pet store and he immediately broke out in hives, very allergic.
So you can imagine our surprise when, by some stroke of magic, my dad held our new kitten and he had no allergic reaction. Just a curious boy, curled up in his arms.
After spending time with Mágico in Baja, my parents grew more and more comfortable around him. Eventually, they invited him to family Christmas in Oregon. He traveled well, and the whole family fell in love with him.
My dad had a dream the night after Mágico died: in it, he was following Mágico. My dad didn’t know where we were going, but he said he didn’t need to know. He just trusted the path because Mágico was leading us. Dad saw him as our guide.
YAY! DAD GETS IT!
During Mágico’s final months, my parents showed so much care. They were the first people I called when he went to the ICU in April. They knew how much he meant to us, and they loved him in their own ways too.
It was so sweet watching my dad with him, reading the paper, watching sports with Mágico curled on his lap, playing with him in the living room, snapping pictures on his phone, or wandering together in the garden.
My dad, Henry Hooper, is an avid writer and a wonderful man. After Mágico passed, he wrote this blog about sentient beings and the question of whether animals can feel. The answer, of course, is yes. As he wrote, Mágico is “the best example I know of a sentient being, which is not a human.”
My dad has an interesting reflection about sentient beings and happy to share it with you here.
Share this post