In February 2020, we lost our 16-year-old Tuxedo, MacIntosh, whom my daughter rescued from a roadside in Orlando as a tiny kitten shortly after Hurricane Charlie tore the roof off her apartment, leaving her homeless and searching for an apartment. Mac's loss, coming weeks after my mother's passing, left us heartbroken and our 14-year-old rescue, PorchCat, missing his friend. It took us only a month to realize there was another cat out there that needed us as much we needed to fill the empty spots in our hearts.
A week of shelter visits brought us to a small, skittish, 12-year-old gray Abyssinian who had little chance of being adopted in a room full of younger, more sociable cats. Three days later, Hohkeehe (the Cheyenne word for "mouse") came home with us just before the COVID-19 crisis shut down our shelters. We discovered that her reclusive behavior was the result of ear infections and several badly decayed teeth. It took nearly a month of vet visits to resolve her problems, but in the end, a whole new cat emerged as she was no longer in pain. She became engaging and even playful, and continues to reveal her true personality to us each day. We are grateful for the circumstances that brought us together with this little lady who needed us as much as we needed her.
CHESAPEAKE, VA
