Picture it. Chicago. 2001. Silvano Gallego headed into the animal shelter on a bright springtime afternoon, intent on finding a new family member. Love came in the form of a four-month-old silver tabby that he dubbed “Luna.” Being a responsible pet owner, Silvano made sure to have her spayed. When he returned to pick up his lovely lady, he was greeted with news of an unexpected sort. Luna been previously fixed, rendering her second procedure unnecessary. “Oh, and she’s a he! Do you still want him?” they asked. As Silvano put it, “Of course I do! This is a cat, not a t-shirt!” Silvano felt that Luna, meaning “moon,” was a beautiful name for a girl, but he wasn’t about to change it. The poor little (newly confirmed) guy had been through enough.
The pair have lived in the Pittsburgh area for 10 years now, and when Luna isn’t chewing on shoe laces or knocking over knick-knacks for attention, he’s engaging in lively feline banter with his loving father. “He is just like a little person,” says Silvano. “When I leave for work, he is sitting in the window, watching me, and he’s there when I come home.”
Luna’s incessant desire for attention may get on his owner’s nerves from time to time, but it did come in handy on one exhilarating occasion. Luna was being especially boisterous, pacing back and forth, crying out insistently for a moment of dad’s time. But this time it wasn’t about treats or shoe laces: He wanted Silvano to find out why the wall behind the electrical outlet was growing so hot. A wire had melted and caught fire inside the wall. In a moment worthy of that showboating Lassie, Luna was able to use his whiney powers for good and avert disaster.
Just one more reason this adoring dad is over the moon for his lively lad, Luna.