My husband and I volunteer at a no-kill shelter, Pets Alive Westchester, in Elmsford, NY. We started volunteering there in 2010. I made a lot of furry friends there, and as you know, we couldn't have more cats until recently; as soon as we closed on the house in January, we went to the shelter and did all the paperwork. We decided on two cats. Most of the cats I originally wanted to adopt either passed on or found homes, and my choice will be in the next post, but my husband's list never changed. Sabrina was always his #1 choice.
After we first did our volunteer orientation, I went to the shelter a few times by myself. By the time I brought my husband with, I was familiar with the different cat rooms and some of the cats in them. Sabrina's room was the "senior/declaw" room. Sabrina happened to fall into both categories. In each room, my husband would sit down and give love to whoever came over for it.
This room was no different - except that while he was being bombarded with kitties, I noticed Sabrina just sitting patiently away from the group, but staring hopefully at him and waiting for her turn. I pointed her out to him, and he immediately stood up and picked her up. It was absolutely love at first sight. When he found out she was 12, had diabetes, and was declawed, that sealed the deal. He wanted her.
Unfortunately, Sabrina had a hard time with her insulin a few months after we met her, and they figured out that insulin wasn't the best choice for her, so that is when she went strictly to being managed by diet. Even more unfortunately, this special diet meant she couldn't be in a cat room with free-fed dry food. She was kept in a kennel in the infirmary ever since, and shortly after she moved in there, they stopped allowing volunteers to enter the infirmary. We had to get special permission for the staff to bring her out to visit us, but we still did it. Every time she came out to visit, she would light up and snuggle contentedly with us.
Over a year after we met her, we made it official. My husband calls her a "little black dress."
We are technically fostering Sabrina, but it's more of a "forever foster," as the shelter calls it. They do this for their elderly animals who might have high medical bills that would otherwise dissuade adopters. I get her prescription food from them, and if she ever has problems with her diabetes, they will care for her. Thankfully she hasn't had any problems yet, but it is a huge relief knowing I can still fall back on them.
My husband is still madly in love with her, and every morning before work, he sits on the couch and they spend time just cuddling. When the bedroom is open (currently occupied by fosters), she always comes in for 10-15 minutes before we fall sleep and just snuggles between us. I don't talk about Sabrina much on Facebook or to other volunteers/staff/etc. because she honestly would have done well in ANY home, unlike the other cat we adopted, coming up next. Sabrina is an amazing addition to our home.
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