Let me tell to you a thing.
This is Lenore. I first saw her in a little cage at the Petco I frequent (I used to take my parentsâ dog in for puppy play time), and she looked like the grouchiest, old, crotchety cat in the world, and I fell instantly in love. She was cranky, she was anti-social, hanging out at the back of her cage. Her fur was matted because she wouldnât let the groomers near her.
But I didnât have a place for her. I wasnât living in my own space yet, and where I was, I wasnât allowed cats. So I pressed my face to the bars of her cage and I promised that if no one had adopted her by the time Iâd bought a house, I would come back for her.
I visited her every week for over six months while I looked for a house. At one point, they had to just shave her entire rear-end because the mats or fur were so bad. They told me she clawed the heck outta the groomer that did it, screamed the entire time, and spent the next two days growling at anyone that came near the cage.
A couple of weeks later, I closed on my house. I went back and I got an employee, and I said: âThat one. I need that cat.â
They got the paperwork and the lady who ran the rescue that was bringing the cats in told me that Lenore (at the time, Lila) was 8 years old, had been owned by an elderly lady who had died, and brought in to a different rescue, whoâd had her for six months on top of the time Iâd been seeing her at Petco.
This kitty had been living in a 3x3â cube for over a YEAR because she was older and âless adoptable.â
I signed the paperwork, put her in a cat carrier, and drove her to my new home. I had pretty much nothing; a bed, an old couch, a couple of bookcases, and a tank of mice I called âCat TVâ. I let her out of the carrier and onto my bed, and I told her âI told you I would come back for you when I had a place. Itâs not much, but itâs yours too now.â
Lenore spent the next three days straight purring non-stop. She followed me around the house purring. Sat next to me purring. Slept next to me purring. Leaning into every touch, purring, purring, always purring. She still purrs if you so much as think about petting her. Sheâs amazing, and I love her.
So, you know, if youâre thinking about adopting, and you see a beast that others consider âless adoptable,â think about Lenore.
