Happy Tail: Prince and Qasali (formerly Milan and Jiggly Caliente)
Two tiny little cats with very big names found their way to Annex Cat Rescue in 2019. Longtime ACR volunteer Robin trapped the duo behind a restaurant in Scarborough. They were promptly named after two of Rupaul’s Drag Race stars: Milan and Jiggly Caliente.
The cats were just six months old when they met their new owners, Coby and Tiffany, who had recently moved to a new apartment. They decided that was the right time to bring some new companions into their lives, and who better than a cat?
Tiffany really wanted a black cat. Her previous cat was black, and she thought they “were really sweet.” Next on their wish-list? “We wanted a really small baby cat, so we could train it. That didn’t work out so well,” Coby laughs. “Cats will not be tamed,” Tiffany adds.
But kittens tend to adopt out quickly. So, it took almost two months of searching before Tiffany and Coby found Milan and Jiggly on the ACR website. They had only been looking for one cat, but when they saw the sweet little duo, they knew they couldn’t separate a bonded pair.
When they went to see the cats in person, foster mom Heather told them the cats’ backstory, and let them hang out for a few hours. The cats were shy and cute, and Coby and Tiffany instantly fell in love.
“Coby was like, ‘We have to get them,’” Tiffany recalls. It was less than a week later that they brought the kittens home. One of their first acts was to rename them. Milan and Jiggly Caliente became Prince and Qasali. Prince is named after the musical legend, while Qasali is named after a species of cat in the card game Magic: The Gathering.
“That was Coby’s idea,” Tiffany laughs.
It took a while for the kittens to warm up to their new home. When they first arrived, they spent most of their time hiding behind the shower curtain. Tiffany would bring them water in the bathroom, which they seemed reluctant to leave. Prince eventually started coming out, while Qasali took much longer. “He would hide in Coby’s shoes,” Tiffany says. But with time, they both came out of their shells.
“Qasali’s a big baby,” Tiffany says. “He’s a big lap cat. He’ll sit on us any chance he gets, especially if we have this one blanket he really likes.” Prince, on the other hand, is the more adventurous one. “Prince is so bossy. He’s always the one who has to get the food first. He’s a lot more assertive than Qasali.”
“But Prince is also the smaller cat, which is funny because he has a really big personality, but a smaller frame.” Prince also loves playing with pens. “I think he was a writer in a past life,” Coby says.
Together, they’re unmistakably brothers. They wrestle and chase each other around but Tiffany and Coby will still catch them cuddling from time to time. What’s unexpected is how the two have changed since they first arrived.
Prince was the more social one at first, but now, Tiffany says, “when we have guests, Prince will be the one that hides. He has some very crafty hiding spots. While Qasali will come out and play with our guests.”
Although Coby and Tiffany had both lived with cats before, this was their first time going through the adoption process themselves. And they couldn’t be happier with the results.
“It’s really nice having them,” Tiffany says. “Especially in quarantine, it’s really improved our quality of life. They’re really great companions.”
-Aleks Kandic
