A 49-year-old London woman married her pet cat, India, to avoid rental restrictions that prohibited her from bringing animals into the unit. According to the New York Post, Deborah Hodge discovered a flaw in the program and created a strategy to marry her cat because she had already rehomed three previous cats owing to landlords who refused pet owners.
Faced with eviction and the prospect of losing her five-year-old cat, the single mother of two tied the marriage in a civil ceremony on April 19. Ms. Hodge told the Express that she had "nothing to lose and everything to gain" by marrying her pet. She went on to say that her cat, India, is the "most important" item in her life, second only to her children.
"By marrying India, I want any future landlords to understand that we come as a bundle and cannot be separated under any circumstances since she is as essential to me as the children," she stated to Express.
Ms. Hodge and her pet kitty donned tuxedo-style costumes to their wedding ceremony in a park in southeast London earlier this month, according to The Post. India meowed her way through her vows while Ms Hodge's friends, including one who formally ordained the civil union, looked on. "I swore to the cosmos that no guy would ever bring myself and India away," she explained.
However, she went on to say that in 2017, she was finally able to persuade her landlord to let her have another cat, India. But it wasn't all plain sailing for India, who soon lost a limb after being struck by a car, making the feline even more reliant on Ms. Hodge.
Now, the couple is facing eviction once more, as Ms. Hodge tries to make ends meet after losing her work abruptly in March. "I'm afraid about losing India," she admitted. As a result, expecting yet another relocation, Ms. Hdoge married her feline companion in an attempt to remain together regardless of the new lease terms.
