This week the ICC wants to, again, highlight pet adoption—a wonderful way to help homeless animals and bring a new, beloved friend into your life. This story comes from Amy:
Last winter my family sadly lost our cat Frank. He had been an older stray we rescued and we had him for four years. Even though we were sad to be without him, it seemed much
worse, at least for myself, not to have any pets at all. We waited a little while, but I knew I would be happier and feel better about losing Frank, if I made a new friend.
In May, my younger brother and I went to the animal shelter. It was my intention to only pick out one kitten, and I really wanted a girl this time—or so I thought. One of the volunteers told me that she would really like to take me to meet a cat that had been at the shelter for the longest time, and I said yes I would like that very much.
I went to the back of the building and there was a kennel with two cats inside. They were only 3 months old and, even though they weren’t biological brothers, they were coincidentally both orange. They had also been brought to the shelter within only a few weeks of each other and had lived together ever since.
I sat down and one of the boys jumped into my lap immediately. The other lay down next to me on the concrete. I couldn’t imagine separating two little cats who had never known anyone else and only had each other for company for their entire lives, so I decided I better take them both. I named the chubby one Mr. Darcy and the skinny one Mr. Knightly—two heroes from Jane Austen.
Mr. Knightly has turned into the silliest cat who will try to eat anything, and I do mean anything. We brought home a new loaf of bread in plastic and put it on the kitchen counter. Within 5 minutes he had jumped up on the counter, bit into the loaf through the plastic, and was carrying it across the apartment. The loaf was half his size! When we finally got it away from him he had taken 3 giant bites out of it. Another day we had a basket of fruit sitting out. Soon as the papaya was ripe, I came home from work and he had drug it into the corner of my bedroom and taken 4-5 giant bites out of it. It was probably 2-3 times the size of his head. Mr. Darcy is quieter, but just as sweet and silly. I’m very glad I rescued these cats and that they became my friends.
-Amy
Animal shelters are brimming with happy, healthy animals just waiting for someone to take them home. If you love animals, check out the Corona Animal Shelter, and bring your own loving friend home. Hours: Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. And Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.. Closed Sunday, Monday, and Friday.
Corona Animal Shelter
608 Harrington Street
Corona, CA 92880 [MAP]
Phone: (951) 736-2309
To submit your own story, email us at Inner-Circle@DiscoverCorona.com
My dalmatians (mother & daughter) were lost in 2006. On Friday December 7th 2007, my husband and I both got off work early, in time to make it to the Corona Animal Shelter to see if there were any medium sized dogs ready for adoption.
As we were walking past the pens, there were not too many medium sized dogs and at the end of aisle, I almost missed this black labrador that was in the back of the pen. She caught my eye and I fell in love. We had an awesome first meeting and we adopted her on the spot. Not exactly the medium sized dog we had envisioned, but she was on the small size for a labrador. In the years since, many people and our vet have described her as an English Lab (shorter legs, about 70 lbs).
Coco came home with us and she captured our hearts. We honestly think that perhaps she was an abandoned or “foreclosure” dog, as she was well mannered, well trained and probably the best companion dog I’ve ever lived with in my whole life. She has never, once, tried to run away even with the front door wide open.
This companion nature was important to me, as in May of 2009 I became very ill with a rare neurological condition. It took me almost 6 months to recover and return to work. My husband was still active duty military at that time and was away most of that summer training. Coco was my nurse, my companion and my best friend in that time period.
I often tell this same exact story when people meet Coco, as they cannot believe she is/was a shelter dog as she is so very sweet and friendly…..so hear our ‘tail’ and do as we did…take a chance on a dog you connect with and adopt your next pet from our local, Corona Animal Shelter!
Thank you so much for your story Pam!