Joe-Z

I am a snowbird from Canada and have been involved with Friends for Life for the last 3 years. I have taken care of kitties that needed some extra TLC or some time away from the shelter. When I came back after Christmas, I was offered a cat to foster. He was very emaciated, and rescued in a Target parking lot by one of our concerned and compassionate volunteers. A quick exam at the shelter revealed that he was an older cat (12+ years) with very seriously infected, abscessed, and broken teeth. I picked him up at Dr. Sam's after his dental surgery, and the love affair between us began immediately. It was a pleasure to see him getting healthier and feeling better every day.

When it was time to return to Canada, I just could not leave him behind, so decided to formally adopt him. We had a couple of test runs in my van before we left Mesa. He preferred to sit on top of all my stuff, so I put his cat bed there. While we were traveling, he was very contented, snoozing along the way, and made himself at home in all the hotel rooms. He was the incredibly perfect traveler…as if he had been doing this all his life.

Once we got home, he was a very bad boy. He did not want to share me with my other cat, Holly and was very hostile towards her. So, he got closely supervised visits, lots of one-on-one TLC, and lots of time in solitary confinement. But, after 3 weeks, he decided that he would let Holly live in his kingdom without attacking her. Since then, they have lived happily ever after, just going about their business without paying attention to one another.

Joe-Z's favorite pastimes are sleeping, eating, sitting on my lap, and watching the birds and people outside my front window. He is a very happy, (now) healthy, mellow cat and an ambassador for demonstrating the joys of adopting a "senior" kitty. I am "happy, happy, happy" to have him living with us and bringing so much joy to our lives.

Daina