Castor and Pollux

The Cat Distribution System is a contemporary term that describes the phenomenon of cats entering peoples' lives unannounced and getting adopted. When my mother and brother's cat Cassidy passed away unexpectedly, I would normally recommend giving some time to process. However, it was already known to them that Lee-Anne's sister-in-law had taken in a litter of kittens and was trying to find homes for them. 

She was in fact hoping to find someone willing to adopt a specific pair that had bonded, preferably to someone in her network as their children had grown attached to them and would want updates. To make it seem even more fated, Cassidy's passing occurred weeks before mine and Lee-Anne's wedding, which would bring the two families together for the first time ever. The Cat Distribution System was in effect.

Meet Castor

And Pollux

I remember them as Castor, the colour of cast iron, and Pollux, rhymes with tux. Originally Castor was named Bonsai and Pollux was Birch, as their litter had a tree name theme. My mother and brother renamed them as the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini, which were in turn based on two brothers in the Greek Pantheon.

According to legend, Castor was the son of the King of Sparta, while Pollux was the son of Zeus, both with the same mother. Pollux asked his father if he could share his immortality with his brother, which he obliged. After many adventures, Castor was killed and Zeus offered Pollux the option to share Castor's mortality as he did his immortality, to which he agreed. Because of this, the two alternate between Hades and Olympus in the afterlife.

It was a coincidence, but the kittens' astrological sign is actually Gemini.

Lee-Anne's sister in law came about this litter of kittens because she lives on a farm and they have barn cats. Naturally, this results in the occasional batch of kittens, and is in fact how we got our cat, Finn. Because of this, we know that Castor and Pollux at least have the same mother as Finn, making them half-brothers, and Lee-Anne's sister-in-law says she thinks they have the same father too.

Something about the shape of Castor's nose makes him look like he'll turn into a big cat, whereas Pollux looks like he'll develop into a noodle like Finn.  They both have bony notches at the ends of their tails, and Castor's is only about half-length. The notches are funny because Finn has that too, so I guess it's genetic. As far as personalities go, they are quite similar, but Castor gets described as more "affectionate" whereas Pollux is more "playful"

My biggest worry about adopting two new kittens was that they would overwhelm the resident elder, Thor. Conventional knowledge suggests that you shouldn't have cats of drastically different age categories. However, it has been our family's philosophy to have cats of different ages, the idea being that the younger cat brings out the kitten in the older. Despite seeing some success with this model, even I had apprehensions about bringing two 3-month-olds to live with a 20-year-old. That's like introducing a three year old human to a hundred year old.

However, our family model has appeared to work in our favour once again

Despite being very playful and rambunctious with each other, they are apparently quite gentle with Thor. Pollux was the first to engage him, despite being the rowdier of the two.

Me and Lee-Anne got to visit and properly meet them about a month after the wedding. I got to see first hand Thor approaching and engaging Pollux.