Song of the Jellicle Cats
By Christine Foster

T.S. Eliot in his delightful tribute to all things feline, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, wrote:

Jellicle Cats come out tonight,

Jellicle Cats come one, come all,

The Jellicle moon is shining bright, 

Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball!

In Eliot’s poem, Jellicles are petite and pleasant black-and-white cats whose daytime nature is peaceful, but who possess a craving for nightlife, spending the daylight hours resting and preening themselves in readiness for the mad antics of the “Jellicle Ball.” (The name jellicle comes from an earlier poem by Eliot, “Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats,” where Jellicle is a corruption of “dear little cats” and Pollicle of “poor little dogs.”)

In Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical version of Cats, Jellicles were not just black and white, but possessed the full range of coat-patterns, diverse personalities and individual talents—more of a brother- and sisterhood of like-minded cats.

By either Eliot’s or Weber’s definition, the SPA has Jellicles: black and white beauties as well as their cousins with coats of every possible color—dreaming perhaps not of a Jellicle Ball, but certainly of mad scampers with balls and bells, or pieces of string, followed by a doze on a warm lap or a cushion in the sun.

These Jellicle Cats are gorgeous and growing and at just the right age for becoming perfect pets. The only challenge you’ll have with them is finding the right name. For as Eliot also says:


The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

It isn’t just one of your holiday games;

You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter

When I tell you, a cat must have three different names.


For more delightful hints on the skills required in the naming of cats, please do your heart a favor and check out Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. For an even more heart-warming experience, come and see all the darling Jellicles at the SPA at Los Pinos 7, a right turn off Calzada de la Estación, any weekday, 11am–2pm. Call 152-6124 for more information or visit the website www.spasanmiguel.org. 

We had our own Jellicle Ball on July 22, a gala fundraiser for the SPA and Amigos de Animales San Miguel and Guanajuato at the beautiful Casa Jazmin with the glorious music of Doc Severinsen and El Ritmo de la Vida. Many, many thanks to our tireless and talented fundraising committee headed by SPA Board members Natalie Hardy, Janielle Penner Garza, Kim Powell-Olivares and Becky Milward, assisted by the hardworking board and volunteers of Amigos de Animales. And most of all, thanks to the those generous members of the community who came out to help countless animals. The event was a sell-out and the three organizations are very grateful for the warm and wonderful support that made it a night to remember for all.