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Relax, America: Willow, the White House cat, has arrived

After keeping the nation on tenterhooks since
even before taking office, the Biden White House announced Friday that a gray
cat named Willow had joined the first family, more than a year after the plucky
farm feline from Pennsylvania caught the eye of the first lady, Jill Biden,
while she was on the stump for her husband.

“Willow made quite an impression on Dr Biden
in 2020 when she jumped up on the stage and interrupted her remarks during a
campaign stop,” said Michael LaRosa, the first lady’s spokesperson. “Seeing
their immediate bond, the owner of the farm knew that Willow belonged with Dr
Biden.”

Willow is named after the first lady’s
hometown, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

The cat’s arrival was much anticipated after
Jill Biden casually mentioned in a November 2020 interview that she’d love to
have a cat in the White House, and later lightheartedly suggested that the
animal was “waiting in the wings.” To feline fans everywhere, this might as
well have been a blood oath that a cat would soon be revealed.

For more than a year, Jen Psaki, the White
House press secretary, was peppered with questions about the administration’s
cat policy by reporters and other interested parties. She seemed aware of the
stakes behind the cat’s public rollout.

“I’m also wondering about the cat,” she said
during a question-and-answer session with Twitter users last January, “because
the cat is going to dominate the internet.”

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On Wednesday, Willow, a shorthair tabby with
jade-green eyes, formally moved into the White House, just over a month after
the Bidens revealed that they had added Commander, a German shepherd puppy, to
the mix. Jill Biden said in an interview with The New York Times this fall that
the cat had been living with a foster parent who had grown attached.

“The cat is still being fostered with somebody
who loves the cat,” she said. “I don’t even know whether I can get the cat back
at this point.”

Another complication, the first lady said at
the time, was concerns of hostility between the cat and Major, the family’s
other German shepherd, who had been sent to training after a series of biting
episodes in the East Wing. At the time, LaRosa described it as “some additional
training to help him adjust to life in the White House.” But last month, Major
was sent to live in a quieter environment with friends of the family, LaRosa
said.

A set of photos released by the White House
show Willow adapting to her new surroundings, sprawling on a couch and taking
in a view of the Washington Monument.

“Willow is settling into the White House with
her favourite toys, treats and plenty of room to smell and explore,” LaRosa
said.

The last feline to live in the White House was
India, a black cat who belonged to President George W. Bush and his wife,
Laura. Then there was Socks, the black-and-white resident feline of the Clinton
White House. Socks, a bit of a media darling, was the protagonist of an
unreleased Super Nintendo game, “Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill,” and was even
photographed in the White House briefing room.

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Presidential cats go back to at least the
Lincoln era, when Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, William H. Seward, gave
him two cats, Tabby and Dixie. Lincoln, historians have said, once remarked
that Dixie was smarter than his entire Cabinet.

©2024 The New York Times Company

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