Buddy, a beautiful senior with a flame point coat, was surrendered to the BC SPCA North Cariboo District Branch on June 30, 2016. His owner could no longer keep him, as the landlord did not allow pets.
Buddy wasn’t ready for adoption right away, as he needed some dental work, and as is often the case with cats adjusting to the shelter environment, his warm personality didn’t show through right away.
But on September 15, a lovely couple walked in, and one of them immediately recognized Buddy as his feline soul mate. Buddy went to his new home, got a new name–Skimbleshanks–and blossomed.
Here is a progress report on Skimbleshanks from his new guardians.
I always wanted to adopt a cat when I got my own place, so when my boyfriend and I moved into our first apartment one of the first things we did, before we even got a TV, was go to the shelter to meet the kitties.
There were so many beautiful personalities, but none of them felt exactly right, until we met Buddy.
He’d been put in a separate space because he didn’t get along with the other cats, and as soon as my boyfriend saw him the search was over. I was the one who wanted a cat, but Buddy and Seamus must have recognized that they were kindred spirits, because we weren’t leaving there without him.
Buddy was eight years old, had a history of medical problems, and my first reaction was that he seemed cold and distant. I had my reservations, but Seamus insisted, and Buddy came home.
I couldn’t have been more wrong about this little snuggle-love. As soon as we opened his crate and let him out (fully intending to gradually adjust him to the new environment) he was a whole new personality–adventurous, stubborn and, I would say, positively gleeful to find himself in a home.
He insisted on exploring the entire apartment that evening, and once it passed his inspection he hopped up on the couch beside me and proceeded to purr with delight.
We renamed him Skimbleshanks, after our favourite character in the musical, Cats, and now whenever we sing or whistle the song he comes trotting over.
He has his quirks, to be sure. For one thing, he doesn’t like it if one of us is home and the other isn’t. He wanders around meowing for whoever is missing, because he knows there are supposed to be two humans and he can’t figure out why we would be so silly as to disrupt his perfect world by not always being home.
He has a passionate love of dirty dishcloths, which he will find wherever they are and cuddle up against. He also lets us know quite forcefully when he wants snuggles, crawling right up into my face, or patting my arm with a paw: “Hey, Mom. You came home five minutes ago and we haven’t snuggled yet. You’re doing it wrong!”
But his most endearing habit is that every single night, without fail, he has to end the day by curling up on my chest and washing my face for a moment. We always get our evening snugs.
Skimbleshanks is the perfect cat for us, and we think a large part of that is because he is older. We knew we wanted an adult cat, and we couldn’t be happier with how everything has turned out.
We love to hear these stories of transformation. Thank you both for recognizing that this nervous shelter cat could become the king of your castle and for giving a mature animal a second chance for a happy home.
