Our local pet store has a cat room where a rescue group cares for and offers cats for adoption. Whenever I went in to pickup pet food I would wonder in the room to visit and pet all the cats. On one of the visits, the local volunteer was telling me about one of the cats who had been there for more than a year. Her story hit me hard and within a week, I was back to make her a part of our family.
This pretty girl was likely 6-7 years old. Her backstory was that she was saved from a hoarding situation (more than 80 kitties!) and had an injured eye that needed to be surgically removed which the rescue promptly took care of. They named her Uno in reference to the one eye remaining.. Because of the environment she had grown up in, Uno had little exposure to people and was deathly afraid of humans, Still, she got along great with the other felines in the cat room. No one could even touch or her hold her so she was constantly passed over for adoption.
When we got home, I decided to change her name to jUno (a much cuter name!). She immediately bonded with Blitz – my handsome cat at home, but never really warmed up to the dogs in the house. jUno spent a lot of time on the top shelves in the closet but eventually graduated to her own room with cat trees, toys, warming pads, and would roam the house at night. Eventually, she did warm up to me and began to look forward to our daily routine of brushing her coat, eating treats, and playing with her toys together. It is a ritual I now sorely miss. During the height of Covid lockdown, she was my constant home office companion.
I lost my Junebug last year when she suddenly starting losing weight and missing the litterbox. She would only eat broth-based type chicken food and I bought every flavor I could find. After visiting the vet and running all kinds of test there was no real diagnosis other than she may be older than we thought.(by now maybe 18-20 years old). We started a new vet provided formula food to increase her appetite and for three weeks she seemed to be rebounding. One morning, I walked downstairs where she always greeted me with a MEOW for her breakfast and instead found her curled in her warm bed but no longer with us. It surprised and devastated me because she seemed to be doing so much better.
Sometimes a very special cat enters our lives… their presence changes our hearts forever. And we can call ourselves blessed for having known them.
Rest well, sweet Junebug. It was my honor to be part of your life..