A Study in Corrie

Gabrielle Woo, Cornell

I am somewhat of an anomaly among my colleagues because I did not grow up in a household that included animals. Oh, I’d done my share of pet-sitting, lived in several places with multiple animals and, like many other kids, I asked for a puppy every Christmas – but to no avail. In hindsight, though, I am sort of glad my parents said no.

I say this because now, as a student living away from Toronto, I’ve had the immense privilege of making friends with an animal of my own for the very first time.

Pet adoption occurs frequently among my vet school friends, but it seems far more significant when you are the one taking the animal with you. Corrie, short for Cornelia, is a 1.5-year-old polydactyl calico kitty who was spayed by one of my classmates while I monitored anesthesia during a surgical lab at school. She came home with me less than a month ago.

Since then Corrie and I have packed up and moved to a new place, argued about which of my possessions is appropriate for napping on (laptop keyboard is forbidden, everything else is fair game), gone adventuring outside in the woods, and taken more than a few naps on other people’s couches. She is a funny sort of cat who sometimes acts like a dog, especially when she greets me at the door and doesn’t stop talking until I oblige with a good scratch behind the ears. Before I met Corrie I was prone to talking aloud to myself on occasion. Now I can say I was talking to the cat.

I suppose it is strange that even after two years of vet school, I didn’t quite understand the bond between humans and their companion animals until now. Corrie has had something to do with this discovery, of course, as have other people I’ve met while doing pet photoshoots. One of my favourite moments as a photographer is when my animal subject decides we are to be friends and pushes my camera aside in order to say hello. It makes pictures harder to get and sometimes leaves sloppy noseprints on my camera lens, but it also brings laughter to all the humans who are watching.

I think having an animal friend must have something to do with a sense of family and of home, especially for those wanderers who dare not stay in one place for too long. The weight of this bond makes me feel strangely more responsible as Corrie’s human and as a vet in training. Mostly, though, it makes me grateful to be where I am.