Cats of New Paltz

Big Jeff would like to accomplish the following: move back to New Orleans, model for Gato Negro wine, catch a fat yard squirrel, publish a volume of poetry and learn the fiddle.

Cats of New Paltz features the friendliest, most adventurous
cats located across the New Paltz area. This week’s featured
cat belongs to graduate student, Christopher Paolini.

Name and Breed

Jefferson Robert “Big Jeff” Paolini is a dirty ol’ street cat from the Saint Roch neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jeff and her siblings Bruce and Winona Ryder (RIP) were abandoned by their mother in a shed. At two to three weeks old, they needed plenty of care, which their new Mamadaddy was happy to give. After some complications with Bruce (his sisters picked on him, so he needed a new home) and Winona Ryder (full of devil’s blood—also needed a new home), the benevolent SUNY New Paltz alumnus decided to keep Jeff and bring her back to the Hudson Valley. She will be 4-years-old in August.

About Big Jeff: 

On account of the fact that she was raised by a clueless human, or else because she is just not that bright, Jeff lacks much of the skills and sense found in most felines. She makes up for it, though, in her tireless devotion and affection for her Mamadaddy, although he wishes that she would work on her social skills and stop biting nearly everyone else who pets her. Her favorite place to hang out is on her Mamadaddy’s shoulders, although she is very thankful for her Genesee 30-rack chateau, a gift from her Uncle Marc.

Big Jeff’s Pastimes: 

Jeff’s favorite foods are cheese, crawfish and unfortunately, plastic. She loves chasing lights and shadows, killing inanimate objects and testing her Mamadaddy’s patience and sanity. Like a Southern belle, Jeff is most comfortable in one of her many fine silken scarves smoking her Virginia Slims. She has also acquired the refined literary tastes of those around her, and enjoys Ernest Hemingway, Robert Penn Warren, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Tennessee Williams and T. S. Eliot. She has also developed an exquisite music taste. Lately, she has been quite homesick and has been listening to lots of music from her hometown, including The Deslondes and the Shake ‘em Up Jazz Band.