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 parentsโ 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 wouldnโt let the groomers near her.
But I didnโt have a place for her. I wasnโt living in my own space yet, and where I was, I wasnโt 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 Iโd bought a house, I would come back for her.
I visited her every week for overย 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: โThat one. I need that cat.โ
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, whoโd had her for six months on top of the time Iโd been seeing her at Petco.
This kitty had been living in a 3x3โ cube for over a YEAR because she was older and โless adoptable.โ
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 โCat TVโ. I let her out of the carrier and onto my bed, and I told her โI told you I would come back for you when I had a place. Itโs not much, but itโs yours too now.โ
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. Sheโs amazing, and I love her.
So, you know, if youโre thinking about adopting, and you see a beast that others consider โless adoptable,โ think about Lenore.