Don’t ever think that breed cats get special treatment when they wind up in kill shelters. Some, in fact, have it worse. The Somali cat above almost died in a kill shelter, but he came to the attention of several blogging kitties and humans.
You see, Somali cats, and their close relations, Abyssinians, do not do well, caged up in a cold, impersonal ACC. It is awful for any cat, but Abys and Somalis like me, are busy, people oriented cats who tend to bond closely with one human. Some of us are like monkeys, using our paws like hands and getting into trouble. Even if we are calmer, we are still pretty quirky. Put us in a cage and we will withdraw or maybe lash out. Either way, we risk getting labeled as unfriendly and unadoptable. So unless someone is very patient and understands our breed, there is a good chance we will never make it out of a kill shelter alive.
Onto the guy above. He was brought in as a stray with no name, so who knows what the story really was behind him. He cowered in his cage, scared out of his wits. Even worse, he was a senior, estimated to be between 10 and 12 years old. There was no way he was going to get rescued… except that my Aby friend Jake and his human posted about him in their Daily Abyssinian blog. The post was on a Wednesday, and he was scheduled to be euthanized on Friday. They mentioned he was located in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada. That rung a bell with me.
Just by coincidence, one of my favorite bloggers, Beth, runs a rescue near that area, Forever Home Cat Rescue. Her blog is called House of the Discarded, and it is a must-read for me. So I had my human message Beth on Facebook, and she promised to look into it. Meanwhile, I posted about this guy on my Facebook page and one of my fans, Mandi, wanted to help! She tried contacting the shelter herself, but they are one of those places that only releases cats to rescues and does not adopt to the public (I do not understand why some kill shelters are like that). So I pointed her in the direction of Beth… and together they saved him! Here is a short video. You can see how sad, frightened and depressed he was:
If you can’t see the above video, click here to watch it on YouTube.
Here he is on his way to Mandi’s. It turns out he loves being brushed — it makes him purr like mad.
I don’t know who originally sent out the alert on this Somali senior, but in the end it took a blogger in Boston, a blogger in Los Angeles (me), and two humans in Canada to save him! If that is not a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is… which brings me to this award:
I got it last week from both its creator, Nerissa, and from Sherlock, Traveler and Ash from Feline Purr-Spective. After thanking the kitties who gave the award, you are supposed to tell everyone something you are celebrating! And this kitty getting rescued made me very happy — and I hope it made you happy too.
I originally was going to cop out and just say whoever wanted the award could take it, but I think I will name one blog to award it to: The Daily Abyssinian, since they originally told me about this kitty. I know Beth doesn’t have time for awards, so I won’t pass it along to House of the Discarded, but I will say thank you so much for helping!
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What a wonderful rescue story, Sparkle.
That poor baby – he looked so sad…Bet he’s one happy camper now! Good-O!
Oh Sparkle that is so wonderful that you got that cat off of death row. I can’t tell you how much that makes us smile.And he is so handsome. What a good job you and your assistant did Sparkle to get all that done. Keep us posted as to how he is doing.
I’m just in tears now, having watched Beth’s video. I follow her blog too, though very seldom leave a comment.
Bless you all for saving him, the poor fellow.
I’d better stop bawling before anyone comes in….
I am so proud of the GOOD humans that there are in the world and certainly in the CB. Thank you Sparkle and human for effecting this rescue. Mom is teary eyed but we both are filled with gratitude.
Thank goodness you found out about that poor cat and we were doing our happy dance when we heard he has a home with Mandi. Thank you Sparkle, Sparkle’s Mum and Beth.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx xx
That is such a wonderful story. I am so glad that kitty found a happy home. He deserves it.
Pawsome story! So glad you heard about this cat in time! It seems he had the cards stacked against him until then. It just goes to show again how much we can do together with other animal lovers on the internet! Thank you!
Sparkle my MomKatt forwarded it to my sisfur’s Aby breeder, Mike Cox, and I know she sent it to a National Aby Rescue group & a few other breeders that SHE knew of. We’re so GLAD this ended well for this beautiful Somali! Thank you ALL!
MomKatt has had three Abys from this wonderpurr lady (with whom she’s been good friends now for many years). SHE, when she was an active Aby breeder, told adopters that if for ANY reason whatsoever they could not keep a cat they got from her, she’d take that cat back NO QUESTIONS ASKED. She was a VERY responsible breeder and one of the kindest ladies we know.
I’m just so thankful this older boy was pulled … it would have been a shame to have lost him … poor darling …
Selina & MomKatt Laura
Äiti was in tears when she read your plea on facebook and she has thought A LOT about this boy, wishing she could help. She gets really upset about these kill shelters. At the cat show the somalis and abys were all show winners. Beautiful.
So we are so very very glad that this senior is going to have a good life now. With the respect and dignity every single one of us deserves.
You lot are heroes.
That is such a great story. We’ve been following this guy’s story and are so relieved he has been rescued!
Purrs,
The Chans
That was one fantastic save Sparkle, BRAVO!!!!!
Thank you, Sparkle!
I got the notice from the Adopt-an-Aby Yahoo group, where it was posted by Susan Graham. I just spread the word as best I could 🙂
I agree with you = If the rescue of this sweet guy is not a reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is ??
great story, great save…..we saw the post too but it never occured to us to forward it to Beth (we love her blog too)
This is what it’s all about: saving one cat at a time. This Aby would make a great poster kitty for Adopt a Senior Month too!
WOO HOO!!!!! Another saved baby!!!!! Great job to all that saved him!
This is a wonderful story, and all the better for being real. I’m sure your fellow Aby is very grateful to you for reaching out to all your friends who could help. They say it takes a village to raise a child — well, it takes a social media to save a cat! Well done!
Porr sweet baby he looked so sad and afraid. I am so glad he is now safe.. Thank you all.. Hugs GJ xx
I saw the video on Beth’s blog on sunday, wow he looked so sad poor baby. Thank goodness he is safe now 🙂 I didn’t know there was a Daily Abyssinian blog, wow I’m heading straight over to check it out. When I was a teenager we had an Aby and she was the smartest cat I ever knew!!!
It’s kitties (and their people) like you all that make us have hope! Well done!
Harry, Dexter and Tipp
What a wonderful story! Thank you!
Hi Everyone!
I am the lucky human who “Miracle Max” can now call his devoted staff member (Max is named after the character in the “Princess Bride”).
He went for a complete medical check up yesterday, and today I got the results back. He is healthy and can soon be introduced to his new kitty brothers- Horus and Westley. He is in need of some dental work, which will be scheduled in a few week’s time when he is feeling better, and is eating regularly. Other than that- he has no issues.
He is improving day by day, and I have to say, he is the sweetest, most tolerant cat I have ever met. I am very glad that fate stepped in, and allowed me to play a part in getting him out of that horrible place. And a big thank you to Sparkle, for bringing Max to my attention!!!!
That is a wonderful story, so glad “Max” is now in his loving forever home! x
That is a wonderful story! So glad it has a happy ending!!
Great job, everybody! Mandi, thanks for the wonderful update!
We read about him on Beth’s site yesterday Sparkle.
I am so glad he was rescued. He did look like he had given up.
That was a sad moment.
But…knowing he was saved and his life will change is such an uplifting thing to know.
THANK YOU to everyone who helped.
purrs
>^,,^<
✿•*¨`*•. ♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥✿•*¨`*•.
Hooray for happy endings!! I always love hearing the “It’s your rescue day” songs.
What a great story – about the rescue part!
Thank God this baby was rescued! The story was very sad at first and mom’s eyes were getting leaky but the rescue part warmed our hearts-kitty and human xx
concats on the award!!!
what a lovely ending to this story. our mom is so thankful for all the extra efforts you bloggers did to save a life. thank you.
It was our pleasure to help rescue this handsome boy! Many thank you’s to Sparkle’s human and Mandi for getting the word out! 🙂
Beth
Sparkle, this post made our day!
Pip, Smidgen, Minnie, Hollie
How wonderful that this old fellow was rescued. I know just how much Somali cats hate being confined. I had a boy who could not stand being in a room with a closed door–he would have a meltdown.
Many people remark about how beautiful Somali cats are but don’t understand their purrsonalities. I always tell people that they are not a breed for everyone. However, if you have ever had one in your life and you like the “quirks” , then you can’t imagine life without one. I am so thankful to have two!
What a fabulous story!! And we are so happy “Max” has found a furever home!!
Wow Sparkle!
What a great thing yous did for the old guy! Me thinks yous guys is fabulishious! Its amazing what can happen.
Kisses
Nellie
That poor guy! You know he was with a family he loved and was probably confused and missing them too. Our Mica Moo was at a regular kill shelter but was released to a rescue that specializes in hard to place kitties. She was a couple years old, nearly feral and wouldn’t live in a cage. She spent her day throwing herself against the bars. She was very lucky too.
We forgot to say concats on your award! We almost gave it to you too, but the mom wasn’t sure you “did” awards. We’ll remember!
What a wonderful thing you did. We had no idea that kill shelters would only release animals to rescues and not individuals.
Congratulations on helping this beautiful kitty get rescued. Hopefully he finds his forever home soon.
Hey, that is the Best Story Ever, Sparkle. You saved him!! I hope he will find a good furever home very soon. He’s very handsome!
So glad everything ended well for this handsome kitty!
My purrs go to all those who participated in saving him!
This is such a happy story. It brightened up our whole day! And we bet that being brushed reminded him of happy times with a loved Bein he has lost track of.
Poor handsome boy. We are so glad his story had a happy ending. That is the best reason to celebrate.
What a worthy thing to celebrate unlike mine. Glad he’s gonna get the love he deserves. TW’s first cat when she was in HS was part Aby and was a very loving girl.
Hey Sparkle, we can move kitties anywhere anytime if we all just keep each other aware, this post is a must read!
SO GRATEFUL to everyone who made his rescue possible. <3