Gatito has actually belonged to Prieto’s family given that he was rescued as an infant. Named after her nephew Guillermo, the feline was the 2nd addition to Prieto’s family of “fur babies,” as she calls her family pets. Luna, a poodle/terrier mix that was 3 years of ages when the RF rescued Gatito, looked after Gatito “like a good big sister,” according to Prieto.
Prieto was already an RF when Gatito joined her family and the bigger school neighborhood.
“Given how much Luna had already made her presence known as a community-builder and lover of Stanford students, I was not surprised when Gatito also took on his own role in my shared effort to bring love and warmth to our Stanford familia,” Prieto composed to The Daily.
And Gatito definitely has made his mark. On the social app Fizz, numerous posts emphasize Gatito’s appeal and positivity on school. One post in specific, including a picture of the cat napping and reading “peaceful gatito giving you immunity from repost or else posts” (an undesirable kind of social networks post), has actually been upvoted over a thousand times.
His popularity isn’t merely an online phenomenon either.
“When I tell people I live in Zapata, they’ll often ask ‘Oh, do you know Gatito?’” Ari Barbella ’25, who declares to have actually taken “at least a hundred photos of [Gatito],” composed to The Daily.
As his next-door neighbors, lots of Zapata locals have an unique connection with Gatito.
According to second-year homeowner Kimberly Gonzalez-Zelaya ’25, he “waits (im)patiently outside resident’s doors” and will meow and claw up until he’s allow.
He takes naps on top of laundry stacks and under locals’ beds. Though Prieto doesn’t personally let Gatito into the dormitory or other homes, Gatito has actually mastered getting in and leaving through the RF’s doggie door and waits by Zapata’s door to be allowed or blurt.
When he’s not in Zapata, he’s most likely roaming “around Stern looking for people to say hello to” and even in the dining hall, where he likes to go “sniff around and pet himself against people’s legs,” composed Barbella.
Prieto “deeply appreciates everyone who helps her keep him safe and connects with him at Stanford,” she composed.
Gonzalez-Zelaya discussed that a great deal of Zapata locals “lovingly refer to him as our landlord.” This label was worn on him for the method he “sassily commands the dorm with his routine trips across floors and his curious way of waiting for someone to open the door for him,” they composed to The Daily.
Barbella verified this, composing that they joke that “he comes by every month to collect rent or fix the sinks/toilets when they break.”
But his ‘tenants’ feel looked after, according to locals and Prieto.
According to Gonzalez-Zelaya, Gatito is a “lovely little cat that, in some way, takes care of his residents.” Prieto composed that her family pets bring a “special energy of care and warmth” to the dormitory neighborhood.
Prieto now has a 3rd furry addition to her family, another rescue called ‘Osito’ or little bear. But she says this boost in on-campus family pets isn’t unique to her home. According to Prieto, there’s “more of a presence” of family pets recently compared to when she initially went back to school in 2010.
“Gatito has cat friends from other places on campus that he visits with or who come to visit him at home,” composed Prieto.
Barbella supports an even bigger existence of on-campus family pets.
“I think that everybody can agree that the world would be a better place if there were more Gatitos in it,” he composed.
