Love a Stray

We lost our dear, sweet, feline friend, Smudge, who was with us for 17 years and 4 months, on Dec. 8, 2010! She was a calico, with a little brown spot at the side of her nose; thus her given name 'Smudge'). Smudge was adopted from the Cleveland APL, on 4/29/94, and she was a very special girl from day one! As any animal lover can imagine, we were devastated beyond belief when we lost her! Our home was so empty without her, even though we still have our 14 yr. old female Katie. Katie too, was adopted. Katie has never been much of a social cat; but we still love her immensely. The emptiness in our house without our Smudge was so evident and painful, we elected after 2 wks to adopt again. We researched a couple of different animal rescue groups, and went to the Pet Smart near Midway Mall. We looked at 2 other cats, but no real connection. We then spotted 'Spanky' who was actually reaching out to us with his little paw. He was 4 months old, and adorable, to say the least! We had him taken out of his cage, and we held him, and he was a cuddler from the get go! After holding him for several minutes, we placed him back into his cage. He continued to reach out to us with his little paw, and he kept rubbing his body back and forth against the cage, and incessantly meowed to us! We were smitten, and we knew he 'was the one'! We renamed Spanky to "Melvin", and have had him 7 weeks as of Feb. 7th, and he is simply wonderful! He is extremely loveable, sweet, and a real charmer. He is very vocal at times, and also has a little 'chirping' sound he displaces to us often. It is so cute! More importantly, he and Katie started making friends the Wednesday after we brought him home. Within about a 2 wk period, it was going better than I had expected. He is a real gentleman, and knows 'his place' with her. Still a work in progress, we know they will get it together as they see fit to do so.

Pros: Great Rescue organization

Cons: I think someone should follow-up on at least a couple occasions, to see how things are working out. We ourselves contacted Love-A-Stray, to give them an update!

These people really care about animals & treat these strays as if they were their own pets.

Pros: cares for animals

Cons: No bad experiences