In December of 2015, one of my rescue cats (from another organization) went on, peacefully, to his great Feline Reward. His surviving adopted brother, Arthur (adopted privately from a different and very unfortunate situation—he was shut in a bedroom for over a year, because of allergies developed by someone in the household.) was inconsolable in his grief for his lost feline bro, and several friends recommended that I visit SAFE Haven for Cats.
I visited Safe Haven on January 3, 2016, and met my volunteer adoption counselor, Pat—-she was terrific! I explained that I had a grieving cat at home, and needed to find him a playmate/partner-in-crime. Pat took me through the shelter, and gave me background on each of the felines I met. She was an expert on their current kitties, and she was kind, too.
One of the first cats I met was a handsome grey tuxedo tabby fellow, who was housed in a large enclosure near the front of the shelter. Pat explained that this fellow, Thompkins, was a cat who had been with them for over a year. He really liked other cats, but didn’t like humans very much, and hadn’t found an adoptive home. Pat told me that they regularly put other cats into Thompkins’s large cat condo/cage, for playtime.
After meeting all of the great cats at SAFE Haven, I decided Thompkins and I needed each other. He already liked other cats, and I felt I could teach him to at least tolerate human beings…..I also told Pat it would be OK with me to introduce my two feline buds as “This is my cat Arthur, and this is his friend, Thompkins.” LOL
Thompkins and Arthur were immediate buddies. It took more than a year of my unconditional love and patience for Mr. T to realize that I really DID want to be his buddy. The wait was well worth it!
More than three years later, Thompkins is a great buddy to both me and Arthur. Mr. T has learned that he loves being brushed, and regularly appears for a full rubdown of his back. He’s a terrific cat.
