Nilo is a nice cat with a dark secret. He did, however, have a secret.
The truth was recently disclosed.
Héctor Morales, Nilo’s owner, acquired him as a kitten after he was born to a neighborhood stray. Morales has given Nilo with a warm home since then, albeit he soon learned that Nilo had inherited an insatiable yearning for outdoor experiences.
Morales was glad to allow his cat such freedom since he knew Nilo wouldn’t travel far and would always return safely on his own.
As Nilo got older, however, he got bolder as well.
Before long, his afternoon adventures began to lengthen, until days would pass with no Nilo in sight. Initially, Morales was worried that his cat was lost and desperate someplace. But oddly enough:
“He always returns home, like he’d never left,” Morales told The Dodo. “Very calm, and fatter, too.”
Something was going on. Morales soon found out what.
Nilo marched in the other day after his last days-long trip. This time, though, things were a little different.
Morales was surprised to see a message tied to his cat’s collar.
Morales described the experience as “unreal.”
Turns out, Nilo wasn’t so outdoorsy after all. Instead, he’d been leading a double life. And he even had an alias.
“We are the other family of ‘Angelo,’” the note read. “When he’s not in your house, he’s at ours.”
Morales was taken aback and, sure, he felt deceived. Nilo had been playing him for a fool. That sensation, however, quickly faded.
Morales added, “When I thought about it, I was grateful that another family cared for him and had even given him a name.”
Nilo was ready to go out again after a few days. Morales decided to reciprocate by writing a message to his cat’s other family.
“Could you please give me your phone number?” Morales wrote that they might use it to notify each other if they were going on vacation. “PS: Before he went, Nilo ate tuna.”
Nilo’s (or, rather, Angelo’s) secret second dinners may be over, but the double serving of adoration will go on, albeit no longer in secret.
Morales explained, “Cats choose who they love.” “We can’t deny them that if we love them back.”
