Zoey had a sister, Molly, and a human mom who loved them very much. But, when they were in mid-life, their mom's circumstances changed, and she couldn’t find a way to keep them. She was very worried because she knew, due to their age and coloring (black cats being the last to be adopted, with tortis not far ahead), the likelihood of them making it out of a shelter at all, let alone together was low. It was breaking her heart and it broke ours when we learned of the situation. So, we stepped in.
The next phase of their lives involved some unexpected sketchy behavior by one human and a lack of long-term commitment to the girls by others. But we keep track of "our animals" for life, so back they came.
Sometime after their return, Zoey had some problems with her right eye – squinting and watering. A quick trip to the vet and we learned she had a pretty bad laceration of her cornea, probably from another cat. It was bad enough they recommended removing the eye. But we took a trip to the veterinary ophthalmologist, and she felt the eye could be saved with a sophisticated surgery. Zoey would lose vision in the middle of her eye but would retain her peripheral vision. She’d see the world as if she had macular degeneration…only her vision wouldn’t continue to degenerate. Given the chance to retain some vision, this seemed like a good choice even if it did involve an extended time in the cone of shame. We are not sure Zoey agreed with our assessment during her convalescence, but we stand by our decision!
Once she recovered and left the cone behind, life returned to normal for the girls. They were happy in foster care and got along with the kitty “siblings” that rolled through. But few were interested in an older pair of cats with “undesirable” colors and, of those that inquired, none followed through.
Sadly, last fall Molly got cancer and it took her quickly. Zoey grieved. She’d spent 12 years with her sister, and although she had other kitties around, she never warmed to them. A few months ago, mutual friends connected us with a lovely woman who was looking for an “older” cat. She’d had a small dog who had just succumbed to old age and she was feeling the loneliness. She’d had cats before and decided a cat was a perfect companion for this stage of her life. And, she had no problem with a black cat, nor a cat with a less-than-perfect eye. Our kind of people! Zoey is pretty engaged with people – fairly “dog like” for a cat – so it seemed like a good possibility. We did an introduction and it went well.
Zoey and her new mom bonded immediately! Zoey loves having her own person 24/7 and her new mom enjoys Zoey’s company. This has been especially important now, while the entire of state of California is on shelter-at-home. The senior living facility where they live has everyone quarantined in their apartments with no wandering around and no visitors – not even family. So, without Zoey’s company, her mom would be spending all day every day all by herself for weeks on end. It’s still hard to be unable to see her daughter and grandkids, who live nearby, but having Zoey eases the loneliness. And Zoey loves her as well.
Cats like Zoey who are older, with less than perfect features or less than desirable coloring miss out. Many of them even lose their lives. But the people miss out too. Because most of these “throw away” cats have so much more to offer than they ask for, if we just give them a chance. Zoey and her mom will tell you!
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