Darn it Georgia! You’re not supposed to make me get all teary eyed at work! I especially liked Elvis telling the one person here works be wearing a Siamese cat on his face!
SAME HERE! This hits sooo close to home. We have 2 black cats, one of which was dumped on the street by his previous owner because he has lymphoma. I’m hugging all of them as soon as I get home.
Check the ones last year from around this time, when the people were putting up “images of Puck” for the season. “Those cats only have TWO legs.” SO CUTE.
This report has been in the works for a WHILE. I began this last year before we even knew we were going to have our daughter! (You may be able to tell, some of the art and lettering is much more like the first few BCN strips in places).
I hope you enjoy this, it’s a subject very dear to our family. Puck and Lupin, as many of you know, were adopted from Purrfect Pals in Washington state. I could not begin to imagine life without them! Lupin is deaf and Puck is a black kitty with three legs. And they are both AWESOME. I hope this inspires folks to go to shelters for their next kitty friend! If at least 5 cats world wide are not adopted from this strip, I have not done my job! Haha!!
All three of my cats are old, and one them is a black cat AND deaf AND she’s the oldest (at 17). She is also totally chill and purrs loud and constantly. People who pass up cats like her are missing out.
I figured it would have taken a while…you know, because of all the crying in between panels. >.<;;;
Great strip though! Such a good message and so many of the classic little details that bring everything to the next level. <3
A friend of mine is adopting 2 shelter cats because of this cartoon, so I think you’re doing OK here, Georgia. My husband and I want to adopt one or two more, but our eldest (17) is in renal failure – doing OK for now – but we know the level of care and cost ahead of us, and we’re concerned adding another cat might put him under too much stress and hasten his decline.
Awwww, I agree with you and think you are being so good to your eldest to consider him! That’s so important, especially to keep things the same for him while he is going through discomfort. I hope “doing OK” lasts a long time!! And oh my goodness, please, please thank your friend for me! That makes me so happy to hear!!
This is so wonderful in so many ways — what a gift to shelters and shelter cats everywhere!
You are a masterful storyteller and artist with a BEAUTIFUL heart!!!
So absolutely true – mine have always been rescues or rejects from bad Human beings.. and Betsthecat is a black cat and I am very very very lucky to have her, she is the centre of my life ! – Breaking cat news ALWAYS makes my day !
I did tear up, not gonna lie! All four of my babies are rescues, and I cannot imagine my life without them. I want the cat version of a “dalmatian plantation”!!
Spencer, Boyd, Jonwalker, Hazza and I think you’re AMAZING for raising awareness, especially about black cats! My Boyd is the sweetest, most beautiful soul in the world.
Heart rending AND spot on…all of our 8 cats are rescues and strays, two boys and 6 girls–wish we had room for more. But they all get along, all love being inside kitties and love us as we love them. Yes, we did adopt a black feral stray–she is Cleocatra, Queen of the house. And half credit for Jasper–who’s a black and white long hair. We’ve experienced SO many of your adventures–not to mention trying to manage a herd!
Thank you so much for making this strip! Shelter pets are near and dear to my heart, and I’m always happy to see comic strips such as Mutts and Breaking Cat News championing the cause. I hope that, someday, all pets find their homes.
Wonderful job of bringing attention to shelter cats, Georgia. I adopted my little guy, Felix, from our local humane society going on three years ago. He was eight months old and had been brought to the shelter by someone when he showed up in their yard. He loves nothing more than to crawl up onto me near my face and butt his head back against me so that I can give him kisses between his ears. Pets give us such unconditional love that I cannot begin to imagine my house without “my boys” (not to mention my “nephew” — my mother’s dog, Eddie).
No no no no – that just broke my heart! You’re not s’posed to make me CRY! :'( Every one of my (7) cats is either a rehomed or rescued kitty, and to earn their love and trust is the most beautiful thing ever.
By the way, I have found my new phrase for when I am really angry with someone, thanks to this strip. “Go away before I make you wear a Siamese cat on your face!”
all my cats are shelter cats. The latest arrival was left behind at an apartment when a college kid moved on with his life. She is five years young and willing to dominate my home. We have taken in older cats (8 and ten years old) even though kittens are cute. Our black cat was left behind when her house mate and sister was adopted. Poor black cat. We have even adopted ex-show cats after their breeder owner has “moved on” to a younger showier cat. When the shelter says they will take the cat back if it doesn’t fit in we tell them that a cat is for 20 years. We have a big house. We will find a way to make the relationship work.
Every cat I have ever had in my life has been a rescue in one way or another (and there have been many) – thank you for this! And I LOVE Elvis dropping the mic 😀
Rockin’ one heck of a sore throat thanks to this strip. If you’ll excuse me, I have 4 shelter cats at home that need to be snuggled whether they like it or not!
Darned allergies! My Loki was left at a shelter by an owner who, despite having other animals, decided that he was too much work. He’s the quietest, sweetest cat. He has almost relaxed and accepted that he is never leaving us and we’ll never ever leave him. Black cats rock!
Wonderful Feline interest piece from the BCN family.
I’ve gotten all my kitties from the shelter or as strays. Tons of character and love!
Got me to tear up again, Georgia.
oh the tears are here too! I have one black cat who is blind in one eye that I intended to rescue and a lovely if somewhat skittish formal feral cat that I didn’t intend to rescue but I love them both to pieces!
“I’m a good boy.” I started crying my eyes out and am still crying..Jackson, my snowshoe rescue thanks you. He came to the shelter about two to three weeks after he was born, having been stabbed in his side and full of fleas. He cried incessantly and I was volunteering one day and found him there. He kept calling out and I had to answer.He was post op and healing so I bathed him and put my name on his cage and as soon as he was able, he came home and is now a huge hunk of love that we love and adore..I’m sure all three of them want to thank you Georgia because tonight they will get extra treats and extra love..beautiful story that shows each of their hearts, so wonderfully made….😊
And I was in floods when I drew that little kitty. True story, I had to stop and draw all their adoptions first before I could continue. AND I based all their adopters on friends and family, ha, so I “knew” they were going to good homes in the comic. The woman who adopted the sweet, shy little cat is based on my Mom. The guys who adopted the black kitty and the elderly ginger kitty are based on two of my dear friends. The person who adopted the good boy (my personal favorite kitty in this special) is based on the person who helps me write the Spanish parts of the comic! …And some of you may have already recognized the Intruder in there….
Thank you so much for this. Of the five kitties with whom my husband and I have shared our lives, three are shelter kitties and two would have been had we not intervened before they ended up in a shelter. And I used to socialize kitties at a cage-free shelter to which my husband still donates annually. Thena and Gail are no longer with us, but Heidi, Sean, and Jenny thank you as well.
Like most … yep, crying here. (I lost my old girl 11 years ago – which doesn’t seem possible. She adopted me when her owners decided 3 cats were too much to look after so let Maggie & Mikey run wild. She was 20 or 21 when she passed.) It’s a time of change right now but once things settle down, I’ll be heading to my local shelter to find a new friend. Hopefully a black one.
AAAWWW!!!!!!! You have me sniffling. All three of our cats are shelter cats; two of them are black cats, and I’ve never had better pets! We love our boys more than anything!
Shelter cats are the best! My little Xena was found on the streets when she was 4 weeks old and taken to Animal Control. From there she was rescued by PAWS Chicago and given to a foster family. I adopted her at the age of 8 weeks and she’s been a joy ever since. And she’s just the latest in a long and greatly loved string of shelter kitties who have made my life so much richer with their love and antics.
Totally agree, they are the best kitties!! And yay for Xena!!! (And oh my goodness, I HAVE to email you back, I’m sorry it’s been this long! It’s been a pretty crazy few weeks).
You know, I just got over a cold and thought I could put the tissues away (or at least out of immediate reach) and now my nose is running and all stuffed up because I’m crying like an idiot. When you do strips like these I wish I owned stock in the companies that make tissues!
How can something so beautiful make me cry so much? Our newest kitty (almost 1yro now) is a little black girl with pumpkin eyes who showed up on our back porch screaming. She had a huge wound on her back where likely a great horned owl tried to carry her off. Rocky The Cat has not really warmed up to little Olivia Owsley but turning her into the shelter was not going to happen for exactly the reason you described. Our previous shelter cats were also black. Black cats rock!
My kitty is from a shelter. I actually intended to get a cat 5+ years old, and/or otherwise hard to adopt out, but my boy is over a year now (was anywhere from 7-10 months when I got him).
You can't argue when a cat picks you though, and Cosmo picked me as his human as soon as he saw me 🙂
He wouldn't take his eyes off of me, and when I was filling out the paperwork to get him every time I turned around to look at him from across the room, he was still staring, and would meow when he saw I was looking at him. When waiting for a friend to come back with the carrier, a volunteer took him out and put him in my lap, and he plopped right down and started purring. First night home, he cuddled with me all night and kept purring. He's still happy with me, and I've had him for almost a year this October 2nd.
Georgia, what a wonderful thing you did for shelter cats. As the owner of 1 shelter cat right now and many more in the past, I want to thank you for being their voice and shining a light on their helplessness. Just think of all the beautiful kitties that may get “forever homes” because of you. God bless!!!
I’m live from a private fishing dock where I almost lost my catch (and my pole) to read this!!!
I’m definitely sharing this post on Facebook.
With some help from my friends, we are seeking a place for me to settle down by myself.
On top of the list….”Finding THE perfect cat at the shelter” to keep me company in a few months..
(Was playing with a friends kitten last Saturday and they were shocked to hear it finally give a soft
Mew !!!)
Wonderful piece, Georgia! My first kitty was a rescue (stray found in a park) and my current two were adopted from the Humane Society when they were both 8 – with the “too much resposibility” excuse as the reason their deceased owner’s extended family gave them up! D: They’re sweet kitties and the most precious possessions I have – though they really posess me! I couldn’t imagine life without them!
And you’ve also reminded me that I want to take up quilting this season, and make some blankets for our local shelters! :3
Thank you! I got my two best friends from a shelter over a decade ago, and just picked up two kittens last month. They’re amazing. Do you want someone who will reflect all the love you give to them back ten-fold? Go visit your nearest (or farthest if you like to drive?) animal shelter! Right Meow!
Georgia, this is magnificent. I’ve read it six times and it still makes me tear up.
And I love that you gave a mention to older cats. Our girl Selma was an abandoned housecat who took up shelter in our backyard. She was probably around 7 or 8 when we found her; she’s about 14 or 15 now. She has flashes of kitten behavior, but for the most part, she is content to sit on our laps or next to us on the sofa. She is chatty and affectionate, and it kills me to think of her being left behind, alone and uncared for. She makes our lives better every day. Adopting an older cat is one of the best things we’ve ever done.
Thank you, Jen! The Man and I have dreams of taking in an older cat or two once we are settled in a house again (vs the apartment). They’re so sweet and they deserve to be safe and spoiled!
OH Georgia – so close to home. I was downsized and had to rehome two of my FIVE rescues when I moved in with mom – thanks to RESCUE I got them BOTH BACK. (And they know, and you can tell how grateful and happy they are)… Partly thanks to people who don’t update chips. Partly because I stayed in touch with one of the adopters. We’re family again.
Aww, what a great comic! My kitty started life as a rescue cat, and I took her in a couple of years ago when a friend couldn’t keep her any more. I wish I could go to the shelter right now and adopt all the cats, but I suspect my current critter would have some objections to that, so I’ll just have to send some money my local rescue’s way for now!
Wonderful! I recently adopted 2 kittens Candy and Choco ( from the same litter ) after my first shelter cat and best buddy Gil passed away at almost 15 years old. The kittens are now half grown and I am considering adding one more. once again, beautiful report.
My kitty rescued himself by crawling into the engine of my car! Long story, but he rode with me, unknown to me, for over 12 hours, and nearly a hundred miles. I’d seen him at school in the morning, and when I got home, he just got out from under the car and moved in! He was unharmed, but very hungry. Now he rules the house!
Fosterer here – including a big white deaf boy once! (Wow they’re loud)
For anyone interested it’s tough handing them back sometimes, but when you send their bios and photos to the shelter and they get rehomed you can say “I did that” and it’s always lovely to get feedback from their new owners.
This has to be the longest breaking cat news ever!And Elvis?And then there’s that cat who was playing video games!So cute!By the way,I do have a cat from the shelter whose name is Berlioz.
Speaking of video games, my Perrine comes and sits by the iPad and asks me to start the Game For Cats app, and if I don’t then she watches all the screens for something that looks like she could pounce on it. So: she has discovered video games.
Perrine is not from a shelter — I wasn’t looking to adopt a cat at the time. She’s from my back porch, and sauntered into the house like she owned it after she decided I wasn’t scary after all. After calls to Animal Control, a trip to the local SPCA to see whether she was chipped, and several “Found Cat” signs taped to lampposts, plus friends offering to help with vet bills, suddenly I had a <4 lb cat who looked like a kitten. (She's still a smallish cat, but many years of not-starving made her look like a healthy adult.)
What I haven't figured out a decade later, is who could abandon such a _sweet_, affectionate kitty (and poor hunter — good at catching but doesn't know how to kill) to starve on the streets of Baltimore. (She had a pink collar with a bell, so I know she'd had another home.) Anyhow, not from a shelter, but definitely a rescue. Now I can't imagine being without her.
Four years ago we adopted a 16 year black cat called Spike from a animal rescue to join our current family of 7 cats & other animals. He is now 20 & is doing well, such a wonderful boy, full of personality & character. We love him to bits!
I’m glad I got home before I looked at this… I have tears in my eyes. I’m so glad you did this!
The best part: the idea of that guy getting a face-hug by Elvis!!!!
That’s wonderful. One of the most joyful things I’ve had happen to me was to bring home my Jasmine K Katt a very small 5 pound 13 year old black kitty. She was in the shelter for a year, a whole year. She may be slow sometimes and she sure does love to sleep( what intelligent kitty doesn’t?) but she still has a bit of youngster in her. Great great comic.
Both our girls are shelter cats. They were found in a box in a park (along with a third sister) and we just fell in love with these two immediately. We really only wanted two cats, but we didn’t want to break up the set, so we spent an hour talking and thinking about it… and had just decided to go ahead and adopt all three when somebody adopted the third.
I like looking at the kitties and doggies in pet stores… but I’d never buy one from there. Not with all the shelters and SPCA and whatnot around.
All of my cats are shelter cats. And each one is loved despite bow getting older and having special needs or not all getting along every second. Shelter cats are the best.
Oh gosh, this made me tear up a little. I think people who don’t want to adopt black cats because of superstition are just plain stupid. I have a particular fondness for black cats, and if it wasn’t for allergies in the family I’d get another one(I have one, the allergies aren’t too bad with just one).
Awesome strip, very touching and getting one thinking.
Cats are great 🙂
I remember one time when I took Princess out to the pet store, she liked going out. A woman commented on her being out and I said it might be because she is deaf. She had the nerve to say Princess was lucky to have me and not have her put down. I was so mad, I never thought of doing that or giving her back. She didn’t know she was deaf and it never slowed her down. She lived to be 17. I still miss her. I totally understand Lupin and you and how we have to do to adapt to them.
Our local SPCA is a no-kill shelter. No-kill shelters need lots of support. They are always overburdened with animals because they don’t kill them. http://www.spcaonline.com/
Story time! My little Deuces never even made it to the shelter. My two best friends found her wandering about outside their town home. They husband (in secret!) and then the wife had started feeding her and letting her sleep on their porch, but they had three other cats, and really couldn’t do more at the time. It was clear she was pretty sick and emaciated, even though one of their neighbors had managed to squeeze a flea collar on her, and she’d been being fed pretty consistently for about a week. One day I came over and met Deuces. It was love at first sight. My friend helped me bundle her up in a book shipping box and take her to my home, helped me get cat toys, food, a litter box. A few days later, I took Deuces to the vet. She had worms, her bones had fused before she really should have been done growing due to malnutrition (she is a TINY cat), she weighed six pounds (although when she’s hale and healthy she only weighs 10, lol), but her biggest problem was impacted and infected mammary glands. She’d probably been abandoned because she got pregnant, and when something-something likely tragic 🙁 – happened to her kittens, she wasn’t able to get rid of her milk and it calcified, creating this hard, flat area along her chest and stomach, like someone had taped a small board to her and then covered it in fur. I de-wormed her, got her antibiotics and all the vet care she needed, got all her shots, then had her spayed once she was healthy (but not before she went into heat TWO TIMES…up all night with yowling, ugh, not fun).
In the first month I took care of her, I probably spent around $1000 on getting cat supplies and vet care. She is a trouble-making cat (she can be bitey, she hates other animals, and one time she opened a packet of Oreos, pulled them all out, and then ate the cream filling in the middle only), but worth every penny.
(I thought about posting a cute image of her curled up sleeping on my bed…in my fiancee’s spot…but I decided to go with a picture that better reflects her personality).
Such a beautiful, wonderful message. Thank you, Georgia. I’m now all sniffly as I think of my own shelter cat… my sweet, fuzzy research assistant Sara. She was my little shadow and and wonderful companion. Three months after adopting her, she became very I’ll – it turned out she had asthma, but since it wasn’t being treated, it turned into bronchitis. I used to call her my $3,000 free cat. 🙂 She brought eight years of love into my home before I lost her to illness. I think of her every day!
My now-fiancé has two fabulous fuzzy boys, and we both volunteer at the local shelter. Though I think he’s waiting for the day when I come home with another one (or seven)! 🙂
Thank you with all my heart for sharing this special report, Georgia. I worked at North Shore Animal League for several years and nowadays, I volunteer at the local shelter. Each was full of wonderful cats (and dogs) who had absolutely nothing wrong with them, they just wanted to be safe & loved. And yes, black cats, senior cats and special needs cats getting adopted were a rarity. Looking into their faces day after day, seeing this lost and confused look on their faces when they were continuously passed by, just about broke my heart. All 3 of my cats were rescues and each had its own personality, just like people. If anyone is thinking of adding to their family, they should definitely give shelter cats a chance – they’re not throwaways or ‘bad’ somehow, they’re just waiting for someone to love them back.
Now I’m going to go wash my face and blow my nose a thousand times so I’ll stop looking like I stuck my face in a bowl of raw, chopped onions… 😉
PS Elvis’ defense of Puck had me both laughing and crying harder lol Such a funny/touching moment in a wonderful, heartfelt strip. Thank you again. Now for more tissues…
My husband and I have been married 27 years. We found our first cat a month after our wedding–a black cat that had been obviously dumped by people moving out of the townhouses where we rented. Katt was the purrfect addition to our new lives together. Because she was lonely, we soon also were joined by a stray kitten that was found in the top of a 40 foot pine tree next to a home owned by my parents’ friends. Roberta and Katt helped us welcome our children into this world and became fast friends with the newest little people. And so it has gone on through the years. We are currently are owned by our 5th and 6th rescue kitties one of whom is black and has a terrible issue with bladder crystals so has been on a special diet for years. Our other cat Snickers is a crème American Shorthair who thinks he is a dog. 🙂 We also have 2 rescue beagles which makes Snickers very happy.
Nine years ago today I lost my life partner Meriadoc, so I was already crying. This made me just sob because I wish I could rescue everyone. I’ve rescued an elderly cat, and some cats who would have been put to sleep otherwise, and I even have an indoor feral. I wish I had more to give. You make such an eloquent and wonderful plea to people on behalf of the shelter cats. Thank you, Georgia.
i know we were warned… but this made me cry!!! i have a special place in my heart for rescues (my parents adopted both their dogs)
my cat, cosmo, is also a rescue from the aspca. he’s an older (he was 5 when i adopted him), black cat with a minor disability (he needs his ears cleaned) so he really hit all three 🙂 he was adopted from a hoarding situation and i don’t get the impression that he ever had enough to eat or that he ever interacted with people before being adopted.
anyway, thank you for writing this! it is such an important issue and i hope it inspires people to adopt/volunteer/and-or donate to their local shelters
Wonderful story Georgia. I tried fostering two of the 72 kitties rescued from a camper in a hospital parking lot 2 1/2 years ago but wound up adopting them instead. 🙂 With your permission, I would like to forward this to the foster coordinator at the Regional Animal Shelter of King County.
Oh, man, I wasn’t expecting to be crying after seeing this. What a WONDERFUL special edition. Thank you so much! Hits home today because I mentioned to a friend at work that we had our cat Earl’s left eye removed on Monday – glaucoma – and she looked at me and said “Good for you! Most people would put him down!” She would do the surgery for one of her animals, too, but she & I both know plenty of people who would not. Our 8-year-old dark grey Earl looks a lot like Puck. 🙂 Earl was found under a house as a very young kitten, and has always been a cheerful fella. He’s doing just fine with one eye. My other five cats (two shelter cats, one cat from a hoarding situation, another grey stray cat, and my two boys adopted from irresponsible people) haven’t hissed at Earl or otherwise shown any worry about his new look or even his “vet’s office smell” after he first came home. I treasure all your comic strips (and love love love my print from your first limited edition) but this one will have a special place in my heart along with the Elvis & Tommy Christmas story…and many others, come to think of it! 🙂 (Anxiously awaiting the book.) Thank you again for being a wonderful, talented artist willing to share your gift and your lovely family of humans and cats with all of us!
My kitty, Sookie (a fiesty tricolor), was left behind at two weeks old when her family moved away. She was rescued by a vet tech that had a couple older cats that wanted to beat up on her so she had to stay in a crate most of the time for her safety. The tech was trying to rehome her and someone from work said I might be up for it. I was moving to a place with more space and windows…the perfect spot for a kitty. I decided to wait to bring her home after moving so she would be less stressed.
In the process of packing, my grandma had been looking to adopt an orange cat and when I found a household with 3 litters of kittens (with one orange) being given away (super sad situation) I brought home a second six week old gray tuxedo who already had fleas and ear mites (Jack) to be company for Sookie. Sookie wasn’t that thrilled initially but Jack’s sweetness has helped her loosen up and become more sociable.
Your strip has me hugging my kitties extra closely tonight.
Georgia, you are an absolute treasure! You and your whole family have the most beautiful energy and hearts. You have an incredible talent and you are spreading so much good energy and joy to the world. My happiest days of the week are the days you have a new strip. Thank you for being such a special human being and fellow Kitty Mama!
It makes me really sad thinking about cats (or any animal) who can’t find homes! This was a beautiful comic! I started crying! If I could I’d find homes for all homeless animals!
Georgia — this is such a wonderful piece. It teaches so many lessons — not only the need to help others, but loyalty, acceptance and tolerance to boot. I may use this as part of a lesson to my middle school students. BRAVA! BRAVA! BRAVA!
STORY TIME, part deux: Fido picked me at a local cat adoption center, O’Malley came from a co-worker. Fido is a true lover, always willing to welcome any visitor to the house. O’Malley is a bit more skittish but makes her presence known by loud and persistent meows.
*sniff* I love my two cats (one a barn kitten, one a stray who wound up on our porch); and we have 4 outside cats we feed regularly even if we can’t look after them to the same degree we do our inside cats…
But there’s always more in need. (And this is sadly true of people as well. *sigh*)
Well done Georgia, even though it makes me sad this is seriously brilliant, and I hope it gets some people in a position for a new cat to adopt.
Ok, I am seriously crying right now. All of our cats growing up were stray kitties that adopted us. Right now we live with extended family members, one of whom is seriously allergic to cats, so we can’t have any lovey fluff balls, but getting a shelter kitty is on the short list when we are back down to just my partner, our son, and myself.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this oh so important message. I have only had one shelter cat, an older Russian blue type. The rest of the girls were all strays or dumpees, including one who was both spayed and declawed before being dumped. Grrrrr. ..More advantages to adopting an older cat ? You know their purrsonality, temperament, size, if they get along with other animals or prefer to be an only pet, they are often litter box trained and want only a chance at happiness. I think they know, and are grateful, as I am grateful for the joy they add to each and every day around here.
All my dogs have been shelter dogs, though, and my husband and I support a few shelters, including purrfect pals, up near Seattle. They also get all of my old towels, which are always in demand.
This comic made me cry. My tiny little special-needs black cat is in the other room but I might need to go and get her and give her a great big hug. Thank you for sharing this extremely important special report–I hope it goes far and wide and encourages people to adopt kitties in need.
Wonderful, wonderful strip. I choked up many times while reading it. Thinking how could anyone give up those sweet cats. I understand various situations that would cause it. All of my cats, past and present were ferals. I befriended them and took them in to their forever homes. There are still many more outside, some of which have been spayed/neutered. I do feed all those that come to my door and if there is another opening in my house, that cat, too, will have a home. Thank you Georgia for bringing this important issue to everyone’s attention.
Right in the feels Georgia, what a lovely comic. My boy was a shelter cat: I think he must’ve had a family previously but he got hit by a car and they probably couldn’t afford his vet bills. He was skinny and very dirty when I first saw him but it was mean to be. He’s neither skinny nor dirty now though must’ve been raised with dogs considering how food-centric he is. Now it’s been 10 years and he’s still going strong!
Hi Georgia, still no pictures, no worries it might be my tablet. I can almost picture the story from the comments, and will give extra cuddles to the shelter kitties when I see them tomorrow 🙂
It may be the tablet viewing, I’m sorry. This comic is larger than most of the strips on Breaking Cat News and some phones and tablets may have an issue loading it. I’m sorry, Moll!!
It’s ok, sad to miss it, but when I get a chance will try to get a sneak viewing on another computer and introduce more people to this wonderful comic.
You did the impossible. You used a comic to make my face leak. Big tough grumpy old army me!
Shared this with all my cat rescue groups, and crazy cat ladies.
*crying* This hit me hard – our much-loved kitty Banana was the “rough start in life” cat. She was picked up with a feral colony in a TNR program, then was obviously so lovey with humans that a rescue took her in. We adopted her in 2009 and she passed away in February. As an FIV kitty, she was special needs – and one of the best cats ever, to us.
Nothing makes me cry faster than elderly people with elderly pets. So sweet, so inevitably sad. And old cats are so loving and awesome.
My two girls were found on the side of the road (and rescued by friends!), one newborn and one very young and terrified mom. I will never understand people who can treat animals like that.
Great job Georgia; so true about shelter cats. Shelter kitties just need a chance, and some love. Quick story here – we had gone to adopt two cats from a shelter in Ft Lauderdale Florida a few years ago, had the two cats picked out, and were told to come pick them up the next day after they got checked out and had their shots. The next day we found out ALL the cats in the facility had passed away – some quick-acting virus had gotten them. We were upset but determined, so we went to the animal shelter in Miami Dade and got two kitties(then kittens) that we still have to this day – Louie and Thelma. We love them dearly, and can’t imagine being without them!
Growing up all of our cats were some form of rescue. We adopted a black cat from a fire on our street, saving her from the shelter. When she got old and sleepy we were advised to get her a friend. – came back with 3.All from the RSPCA. Then as they died, from old age, or misadventures,we adopted more shelter cats. One old ginger boy with cancer who’s last days were filled with love, One semi-feral barn cat who has just about tamed after years of patience.
Project cats love you more I think. All those who grab an easy cat don’t know what they’re missing. And black cats are good luck. I can prove it. One of ours saved my life
The most heartfelt strip yet. Awesome job !! Some creep dumped three tiny kittens in my garbage can. A friend adopted Stripe, Vito & Miss Shady have become best buddies with my tuxedo, the ever debonair, Louis.
Man, this made me cry so much. I wish I could adopt all the kitties, but my building will only let me have one!
When we were adopting my kitty they introduced us to a bunch of cats, and some of them had stories of how they got there. There was one cat who had been brought in because the child in the house had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. I don’t think the volunteers knew why that was a big deal, but I have two cousins with CF and one of the symptoms is that their lungs fill up with fluid, and any sort of irritant (like if you’re mildly allergic to cat dander!) is only going to make it worse. I told them that was one of the few good reasons I had ever heard for giving up a pet.
We’ve had 3 cats and all of them have been strays that adopted us. Our first was black and lived for 18 yrs. He was joined by a little girl when he was 8. She came around with an older cat we assumed was her mother. When her mother stopped coming with her, we assumed Mom had been killed. So we enticed her into the house and she latched on to our older boy (much to his annoyance – for a little while) On an evening about 6 months later, both cats were staring out the window and when I looked out, there was the mother staring up at her baby! It was heart-breaking! But we never saw her again and figured she just wanted to make sure her baby was taken care of. She died at 14. Now our current boy is 14 but in excellent health. I can’t imagine any of them having to live on the streets. I know we’ll get a shelter cat(s) when our boy is no longer with us.
Lord have mercy, what a powerful piece of writing and illustration.
This should be copied, linked, propagated and posted everywhere. There are a LOT of people that need to see it.
Thank you Georgia, for doing this!
And yes, there are cultures present and past in which black cats are symbols of good luck and prosperity.
Our rescued black cat tells us the stories all the time.
This was just brilliant, our cat Bernard is a rescue cat (he was found foraging in a big catering bin/dumper for chips and kebabs) and had a pretty tough start in life, he is so loved and adored by me and my boyfriend even though he’s a bit windy.
One Halloween when I was a teenager, a stray cat who my mum had been feeding for a couple of days bought all it’s kittens round to our house, and made a home for them in our kitchen….we kept them all until the new year and then carefully re-homed 3 and kept 2 plus the mom….
This was awesome! But, sometimes they make it difficult to adopt from the shelters’ The shelter that I donate to wouldn’t allow me to have a cat because of my age.( same thing two other places) and, one place denied me because of a story I told her that I thought was cute.
I told her about the cat we had when we first got married that went everywhere with us even to drive in movies. She became really upset stating cats should not ride in cars except in a carrier. I assured her that things were different back then and, of course I would use a carrier.
She said she didn’t trust me. So I couldn’t have a cat. My daughter bought me a cat. And,I think that is sad because I saw many beautiful cats and, kittens I would have loved to adopt. As far as the age thing older people can give a lot of love to a cat and, the cat can really love to be in a home. I love my cat and, she loves us and, because she was purchassed no one cares what you do. Thats ashame also.
Oh, Georgia. You are absolutely spot on! I love the poor kitty arriving at the shelter with his bindlestiff when his people turn him in, and the old fellow with his cane. All of the scenarios are perfectly and poignantly portrayed. I so hope that anyone wavering about whether to adopt a shelter cat will see this and decide to adopt. Thank you for sharing with us.
I lost it fairly early in. It’s quite hard to read when I’m crying and when my adopter (stray) Bengal mix,Ginger, is trying to comfort me. Her story is a feels on it’s own with its own feels back story.We were grieving over our senior adoptee Mama Kitty (she came with the house–the aforementioned back story). We had decided to wait to even start looking for a new blanket anchor. About 3 weeks later hubby comes home about noon. He was out building a fence for a customer with two big Malamutes. While he’s digging post holes he sees a little kitten come through the 4″squares in the horse fence. She started digging in the soft dirt from the holes. Hubby thinks she’s going to “use” the hole–to his surprise she darts out of the hole to more soft dirt where she dug another one. She did this for a bit and when he went to the truck he grabbed some dog cookies (construction workers friend) and broke them up.They were gone in a flash. He goes back to work and she ultimately sets up a “nest” in hubbys Carhart and goes to sleep. The homeowner says it’s not hers and she knows all the neighbors are dog owners. He brings her home and my intro to her is this tiny kitten with a broken tail who trots up our front walk and into the house like she was home! Hubby goes back to work leaving the tiny,farty kitten with me. She toured the house and ended up on our bed fairly quickly. When I laid on the bed near her she came over and gave me a obvious hug & our house became Ginger’s world. Hubby says he felt like she was saying THERE you are! I’ve been waiting for you. She is a very unique cat–having grown up with and had many cats–we have never met a kitteh like her. She like to play with the neighborhood kids, the Harley shop next door won’t start bikes if she’s over there (nothing quite like a leather clad biker with a little bit in his arms) and she’s been in EVERY neighbors house at some point. Hubby built a “race track” of shelving around the living room that has become her domain and allows her to get to “full speed” in our small house.We routinely wonder aloud about who would dump this little pure heart in the woods or if she’d had different owners that may very well have given her up because she is a “Constant Kitty”—Two Cat’s Meow toys in 2 years gave their all for the cause… Georgia,thank you for a wonderful strip that should span the Web and help bring all the kitties home. Many moons ago Purrfect Pals helped me find a new best friend waiting to come home with me. We had many good years before he answered the Bridge’s call.
Thank you. And thank you so much for sharing your “tail” (I couldn’t resist) about Ginger! What a very lucky kitty, and it is so wild how they seem to find us, isn’t it? I love your description of the shelving race track. We hope to set up something similar one day when we own a house again (vs the apartment we rent now) if only for Lupin. Ha!!
This was beautiful and sad. I wish I could gather up all the old and/or black cats. I love senior cats the best – they are so chilled out and I admit, I love their independence. My parents/the family cat is black, although she has recently started turning orange which is very fun. She came to us from a friend of my mothers who was moving, and although she was mature when we got her we have been able to train her to use a cat flap and she is still very playful. Unfortunately I can’t populate my own home with kitties. I live in a flat and my landlord would never allow me to get a cat, and I’m away too much to really offer a good home to any kitty. 🙁 I am definitely going to look into some of the other things you mentioned – I used to donate food to a local rescue center and I don’t know why I stopped!
cried through most of the strip. is there a chance of a print sometime? I’d love to get one for my hard-working shelter.
what it’s the happy ending for the mom at and Siemens with the rough start? I don’t seem to find it
The Mom’s story is left unknown, but her kitten grows up to be the little homeless street cat. And the Siamese with the rough start ends up with a sweet blonde lady with a dog… Who is based on my Mom, hehehe.
I’m looking into options for prints right now! I hope I have some good news to share soon on that front.
I love Elvis – “You’ve got 5 minutes to get out of here or you’ll be wearing a Siamese on your face!”
Of the 9 cats my husband & I have had since we were married 3 were shelter cats, 2 were strays that adopted us, 1 was a stray my husband rescued from the streets & 1 was a kitten we took in for a friend whose new landlord wouldn’t allow pets! We are down to 3 cats at the moment as some have died and some have had to be rehomed but if my husband had his way (and we had the money & space) we would probably have a lot more! I hope people who are able to and who have considered the adjustments they will have to make can adopt a fur baby or can offer practical help to a local shelter. Our fur babies are a pain sometimes but we love them to bits & miss them terribly when they’re gone.
I’d had every intention of getting an older cat from the shelter when it came time to add to our little clowder, and then I got a call that someone found an abandoned kitten under the porch. Feral momma had picked up and left him behind. He was weak, covered in fleas, and needed round the clock bottlefeeding and all the care gross little babies need.
He’s now a year old, gorgeous blue point meezer, and gets along very well with our three older rescues who were gotten through the local shelter.
I cried. The elderly cat whose owner passed hit close to home. One of our two kitties is a fluffy black cat who was taken in as a stray by my in-laws. He outlived both of them and we took him in. He would never have made it at a shelter. He’s old (14 now), black, long-haired, and doesn’t have much, if any, vision in one eye due to an infection he had as a kitten before he showed up at my in-laws’ doorstep. Our calico (also a rescue – she picked us by sticking a paw out of her cage and mewing loudly at us) was not thrilled, but after 2 years she only hisses at him occasionally instead of constantly. 🙂
We also have a rescue dog, adopted the same time as our calico cat. Those two get along so well. We wouldn’t trade our shelter/rehomed pets for anything. I want to adopt them all, because every pet out there deserves love.
Wow, lump in my throat.
My three boys are all shelter cats. Two of them were older, brothers, and black/white. They’d been passed over repeatedly. Lost their original home after a divorce.
They’re the most wonderful things in my life right now, and have been for some time.
I cherish the last 6+ years with them.
So very true! A very sweet way of saying what so many people need to hear. None of our four legged pets have been shelter pets, but all but two cats have been rescues, usually of the “wander in to the yard and look pathetic” variety. (the two exceptions are a kitten born when mama’s new people didn’t get her to the vet soon enough and a classmate’s cat had kittens who needed a home) The stories I could share! …if I didn’t have feline assistance typing right now…:)
Adding a +1 to everyone who’s cheering Elvis leaping to Puck’s defense. Elvis may be a bit of a grump at times, but you DO NOT insult his brudders!
Well, this got me crying like a baby . . . wow, the illustrations are just so moving, not to mention the heartbreaking cuteness and witty rhetoric of Lupin, Puck, and Elvis. Brilliant work, Georgia! I cracked up at the panel with the dude that said, “I’m only too happy to feed and love you because I’m not a sociopath!” LOL Brilliant! I think if everyone had a cat in their life the world would be a much better place.
Just wanted to say that I don’t have the space or time to have a cat (or any pets) as it’s just me in my apartment and I work full time, (Plus I suspect I’d be like the selfish ignorant person) but this has promted me to set up a monthly direct debit to the RSPCA.
But you’re not like the selfish ignorant person, because you know you don’t have the time to properly devote to a cat or other pet. That’s being plenty responsible in itself!
Read this through for the n-th time. So wonderfully sad and the rewarding. Thank you, Georgia. Our elder cat, Sir aearl Grey, came to us pre-shelter and he is such a Good Boy.
Excellent and inspiring story, Thank you! I grew up with 5 cats, all on their second chances (one discarded kitten, one didn’t get along with the new baby, two elderly littermates whose elderly owner went to a nursing home, and one slightly handicapped shy girl). They were each treasures in their own ways and lived 15-20 years. Now my kids and I have adopted a shelter kitten and hope to add an older shelter cat next year. A few week after getting our kitten, my son said, “No offense, but before this cat our lives were just boring junk.” She has really brought fresh joy and new love into our home. And we are big fans of BCN!!! Every new report is something fun and cheerful to share.
Purrfect, marvellous! We got 3 sheltercats here, and one in socialisation for a shelter cos she can´t be there(she hates other cats) one whos home is been renoveted and one whos human is abroad on a worktrip.
Not crying, just got sometthing in my eyes
The notification for this strip could not have come in a more timely fashion on Wednesday. We had to take our girl Annette to the vet for that last trip on Tuesday (she was 11 1/2). For her it was the end of a long fight. About 2 years ago she and her companion Samantha (both were shelter cats)were both diagnosed with Thyroid issues and kidney issues during their regular check ups and Annie was found to be deaf. In February of 2014 Sam lost her fight at the age of 14. Annie was a trooper and did very well until 3 weeks ago when we saw that things were changing. Result of that visit that her time was limited and we decide that as long as she wasn’t in pain to wait. We knew the time was here on Tuesday.
Your strip was what we needed! Thank you!
Today we took some extra supplies to the shelter and an 8 year old (who’s owner passed away) captured our heart. We will pick her up for good next week!
Bob, I am so sorry to hear of your cat Annie’s passing. I’m so glad that you found the 8 year old after their owner passed away–that puts a bit of a lump in my throat, but happily. I hope you all can find comfort together, and ease each other’s grief through many years of friendship!!
As a Kitten Foster, this hit me really hard in the feels. I just adopted off a litter of 5 who were found in a local flower pot. They were 12 days old when I first took them in. I miss them terribly, but I know that are happy in their new forever homes. I’m forwarding this comic to the local shelters and vets I work with. Thank you for helping to get the word out!
Thank you – what a wonderful way to show the adoption process and make people aware – this also made me cry – I will definitely be adopting once I have moved into my new place – after losing my 2 fur babies within 6 months (both adopted) I cannot wait to love another fur baby (or 2) x
Try looking into the following breeds and see if you’re allergic: Siberian, Balinese, Bengal, Burmese, Colorpoint Shorthair, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, Javanese, Ocicat, Oriental Shorthair, Russian Blue, Siamese or Sphynx. The first two especially, as they produce less of the protein that most people are allergic to! There are breeders out there who breed especially to help people find a furry friend who won’t trigger their allergies. 🙂
This is why we had Siamese when I was growing up, my Mom could be around them easier. She also gets allergy shots, too though. I know those help very much as well.
Can not imagine living in this world without a cat! At one time, had a Maine Coon, a shorthaired tabby, who were rescues! Loved them for 17 and 13 years. Great fly, mosquito and spider catchers! ! ! Miss my babies.
I love this one! We have a Ragdoll from the pound who is 23 1/2 years old. The arthritis is bugging her hips, so we are not going to get another cat until she leaves us. She picked my sister to adopt her and joined our 2 other cats, one girl we got from the humane society and the other a boy adopted us (his mother was pedaling kittens according to the vet). When the oldest died we got a 9 year old calico from the humane society. Then my boy passed at 17 followed by the calico at 16 last spring. We are considering another one but want to care for our elderly gal first. We’ve had 9 cats over the years and each one was a unique character and all are missed.
Wonderful story, except for the crying on my part, of course. 🙂 I have five cats, four of whom are solid black, all of whom are rescues or shelter cats. I’ve never understood the prejudice against black cats — they are gorgeous. Same thing for missing legs — the cat doesn’t care so why should the prospective owner?
Wonderful Georgia, you are an amazing person with a huge heart! I’ve never seen this many comments on your strip, I didn’t think I would ever get to the end. This may have been Elvis’ finest moment; still crying over Puck’s face and laughing proudly over Siamese on your face.
Hi Georgia, that was very touching. My eyes were all wet after reading it. It inspired me to create a piece of music titled “Shelter Cat Blues” (https://soundcloud.com/david-laprise/shelter-cat-blues). I would like to make a video for it but I have no recent video or animation experience so we’ll see.
Georgia, all the comments so far have taken the words right out of my mouth and mirror my own sentiments exactly. Make this into a poster and market it to shelters, veterinarians, and animal hospitals! I am printing it off and putting my copy up on my bedroom wall for our dog to see. It is moving, profound, bittersweet, and humorous all at the same time. “Bless the beasts and the children/For in this world they have no voice/They have no choice.” You have caught the spirit of cats everywhere.You are their patron saint. Not to mention a genius, and basically a Good Human. Thank you from my heart, over here in Asheville, North Carolina.
All of ourcats have found us! They showed up at our house and we had to take them inside because we couldn’t just let them stay outside. They are the most loving cats.
Gaw! We picked up our Puck right from the street, no shelter needed. Her kitty mom abandoned her and she was trapped under broken wood. She was sick, hurt, runty and barley old enough to be weened! It really is troublesome to find custom medicine for an infected eye on a tiny kitten, but she’s happy and healthy (aside from being half-blind) now and we all love her. Also, that sociopath thing is gold – why else would someone take on a cat – or any pet, really – if they’re not even going to look after them? Animal cruelty is the first sign of a budding serial killer, ya jerks. >:(
Sometimes it may seem like all people want is kittens and they don’t think about all the other types of cats.YOU MADE ME CRY. thank your Georgia!!!!!!!!!
My girlfriend never had a cat before and wanted one. The shelter was too far to transport anything so I called my vet who occasionally had kittens in the vet window. I called them up.
“Do you have any kittens or cats up for adoption or know someone that does?”
“No…wait….” after a pause “We have a two year old cat here… but it only has one eye. It is fixed.”
“Let me call back but if we are interested could we bring our dog over today to see if they get along?”
“Sure”
So I call my girlfriend up.
“Sweetie…I don’t want to get your hopes up, but do you want a kitty?”
“KITTY! YES! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?!?”
I could have totally gotten stuff. It was christmas time however.
“Well the thing is it only has one eye,” I said “Do you still want to go see it or do you want to wait for a whole kitty?”
“A WHOLE KITTY!?!?! WHAT TYPE OF ANIMAL ARE YOU! I WANT TO SEE THE KITTY!”
So I call the vet back (who was open late that day) and we take our dog to see the cat. She loved it. The dog didn’t try to eat it (they ignore each other) and the cat kinda prefers me over her. Every once in a while my girlfriend looks at me (while the cat is laying on my chest usually) and mumbles “Do you want to wait for a whole kitty…I still can’t believe you said that.”
Would you consider printing this as a poster/pair of posters? I think it’d be great to hang at a shelter, pet store adoption site, or vet’s office. The shelter where I volunteer has a site in a local mall, and it’d be great to have this explanation in the window when we’re not open.
Adding a comment for my own little shelter cat. Only about 4 when I got her she had already been sent to the shelter twice. She doesn’t get along with other cats and pretty much only likes me. And I wouldn’t give her back for anything.
This is wonderful! Thank all of your news team for explaining so well why people should look for their feline (and canine) friends at a shelter. There is so much variety and so many kitties who just need friends and a home.
Reading the main comic, I actually never noticed that Puck only has three legs. XD;
At any rate, that’s very sweet of you. =) My family has already taken in a lot of cats and we can’t really take more. I do think I’d like to adopt at least once when I’m in a position to do so, and I am considering doing so with someone with special needs. Granted, it my case, I was thinking people, but it can also go with cats.
I mean, yes, I do think bringing your own children into the world can be a good thing, but there are also so many out there that might otherwise never have a chance to experience a real family. I can see where it would apply to cats, too. I do wish more people would be willing to give them a chance.
Superstitious people are often immune to reason or ridicule. What sometimes works, though, is to pass around another bit of superstition: there’s a folk belief that if you take a black cat into your home and treat it well, it will bring you GOOD luck.
I also heard about an animal shelter that named one of its black cats Jellybean, and the cat got adopted right away. Since then, they’ve named all of their black cats Jellybean. The cuteness of the name seems to override the spooky reputation.
I can’t see what I assume was a Breaking Cat News strip…..I get a black box with an X in it.
My current furbaby is an all black shelter find kitty….15# of pure love! Bijoux just LOVES people, especially the guy in the wheelchair next door. Champion snuggler too. 😀 I’ve never met an all black cat that wasn’t super smart, super sweet, and real cuddlebugs!
After reading this special report I was ready to adopt as many cats as I can. Today me and my husband have brought a lady-cat to our apartment. Her owner (an old man) has died and she has been left alone in the street. She is so beautiful, fluffy and affectionate, ready to tell stories with her eyes. But we already have a teenage-boy-cat. It seems like they’ll have a hard work on the way to their understanding. I hope they’ll become friends.
I hope they do too, Irene. It makes me so happy that this inspired you to adopt a new kitty, thank you so, so much for telling me! She must be so happy and relieved to be off the streets and cared for! I wish everyone under your roof much luck and love adjusting to new family!
Man, this made me cry. I have a shelter cat, though we got him through our local PetSmart. They run a program that allows shelters to put their cats up for adoption through them. All proceeds go to the shelter.
When we got Snowball, it was on the heels of the death of my last cat. I could just feel she wanted to pass on caring for me (because she did that, so so much) to another cat. So we went without a word, and there he was. And we bonded instantly, and he came home with us. Since he’d spent most of his life in the shelters and a single room at a foster home, our house scared him. But he grew to love it, and now he’s a spoiled baby who chatters at us loudly.
His foster mother thanked us personally for adopting him since he’s a black cat. We didn’t even think twice. He’s such a sweetheart, and he’s always there when I have an anxiety attack or my depression spikes. I think Shelby, my late cat, chose her successor well.
Hi everybody! I’m relatively new to the strip,having only recently discovered it on GoComics. Just found out about about the website too.The further along I went,the more teary I got thinking of all the sad cats around the world,but tears of happiness at the end.I pray all the shelter animals can experience the same joy. We have 8 cats now,at one time we had 15. All were either rescued or they came to us. The older cat’s story really got to me. I have an old friend,Mr.Blue,who is the last of our feline family from our previous home.I KNOW I’ll be a basket case for some time when he leaves us, so we let him have as much lap time as he wants as he tells us his stories with his eyes. I’d share Mr. Blue’s story of how he came to be with us but I’ve gone on too long already. Keep up the great work,Georgia!Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Hello! When I first read this comment, I had not realized it was on the Shelter Special, I’m sorry! I’ve looked into printing this one, but because of its size I have to look into some poster printing. I’m going to try and offer this as a poster on Society6 in the new year!
I would love to have this as a print for my wall! Is gocomics still selling it?
All of my furbabies were either street rescues or shelter finds…..usually the ones no one else wanted. They’ve always turned out to be the best one of the bunch. I have a big soft spot for black kitties too, haven’t met one yet that wasn’t super sweet, loveable, and smart. Our current black cat is Bijoux, and he certainly lives up to his name. He’s a jewel of a cat and very entertaining with his antics. The neighbors all love him, even the ones who claim not to like cats. 15 years old, 14# of pure lovebug. Whoever threw him away didn’t know what they had! Lucky for us though. 😀
Ooooo, I can hardly wait! It’s such a great one, I think every shelter and vets office should have one in their lobby. This however is for my hall for all to see.
This is a wonderful report, but it is about to become dated. I suggest a small change:
From: “And you must be a time traveler from the 1600s, because it’s 2015 and that’s ridiculous.”
To: “And you must be a time traveler from the 1600s, because it’s the 21st century and that’s ridiculous.”
Last week I donated to the shelter. It was a cat scratcher that Berlioz doesn’t like and some cat food. (not the creamy dairy kind ;Berlioz LOVES that kind.)🐱
This is my second time reading this and I cried both times. The local SPCA needs help and this article helps me remember that. Yes my life is busy and sometimes I forget. All of our cats came into our yard and wanted into the house. With the first cat we tried to find the owner but not the others. I did look for flyers at the vet and SPCA. One of our’s is black. Such a sweet kitty! Thank you Georgia, for your good work at the shelter and for this article that helps people like me to help too.
Cute. I have an old cat and a black cat, and both are good, and the old has lots of lovey-dovey stuff to give. The black one can be grumpy, but is still lovable.
My oldest cat is my sweetest cat. He loves to be put on my chest and be rocked back and forth. He sleeps on my head and has since he was a kitten. The second one likes to be massaged but not held. The little black is still feisty. But I hope he will calm down with age.
A poster of this special report is finally for sale in the BCN Zazzle shop, here: http://www.zazzle.com/bcn_special_report_shelter_cats_poster-228260998497065901 The $5.24 royalty from each poster will be donated to Purrfect Pals in Arlington, Wa. That’s the shelter that saved Puck and Lupin in real life. They do good work!
Georgia! I just ordered the poster from Dazzle and can’t wait to get it.
NOTE: I wouldn’t have known it’s available if I hadn’t decided to read the Shelter Cats Special Report for the nthnthntht time and re-read all the comments. I wonder if there are others who don’t know. ofc, you may have announced the poster on your some accounts.
so thrilled to get the poster! it my favoritiest you’ve done so far.
My mom just died. One of the issues that I had to deal with was her dog Lucy. I was thinking of this report. Lucy is about eleven years old. Older cat, older dog, I expect it is about the same. Fortunately, there were a number of people interested. My mom’s ex-landlady ended up bonding with Lucy, and so she has two dogs now.
I am past most of my grief now. There were several days that were touch-and-go. Fortunately, one of my jobs took me to the Vancouver area, and I got some counselling at my church.
Fortunately, it was not difficult for Lucy. I understand that an ambulance worker and the police officer who responded to the call were both interested. Lucy is really a sweet dog, but I can understand that another pet, especially one who was behaving abnormally due to grief, might have a harder time.
Tommy lost his person, too. His owner Sissy passed away and had made arrangements for my good friend Jackie to adopt him. Pets definitely share our grief, it is wonderful when they can be taken in by folks who understand what they are going through.
And when we can too. I’m glad you were able to receive some guidance from your church. I wish you comfort and much sympathy and hopes for healing.
I loved the story that Georgia Dunn wrote and shared. For about a year, I volunteered at my local shelter, while I was out of work. I rose at 5am four days a week, with the help of others to feed the ENTIRE shelter of cats. I loved them all, and afterwards, I spent time socializing with them, “my goal” was to touch and hold every cat to make a difference. These cats saved my life and sanity and kept my spirits up. Way too many times, I heard “the stories” Georgia shared in her comic strip above, and the ~selfish reasons~ why cats were in shelters and continue to be so to this day. Her comic strip made me truly cry and touched my heart in many ways. Thank You.
At home, I found a stray now 10 years ago, and she is the love of my life, and makes me smile daily, and I am so grateful for her. To this day, I support no kill shelters and pray someday that there will be no more feral cats and no more homeless. Lets make it happen, soon !
Dear Georgia,
I’ve been loving Breaking Cat News for some time now, but I had never read the Special Report on Shelter Cats until today. I confess that it made me teary eyed. My last three cats were adopted, on the same day, from the Lowell Humane Society. So many of the cats in this particular strip remind me of my motley three: my older Mistress Mog, whose lady died leaving her to children who didn’t want her; my blue-eyed boy, Myster, who spent the first year of his time with us in the basement because he was so shy; and my little Lexie, the crazy calico kitten who just didn’t get along with her first owner. Sadly, only Lexie is still with me (she’s 11 now), but I know that Moggie and Myster had good lives, loved and cherished, by my family. Thank you for the gift of Breaking Cat News and sharing your boys and their friends with the world. ~ Victoria
As someone who’s had a three-legged cat, a black cat, old cats, and several shelter cats (including one abandoned when the morons moved out of the apartment: he still hides when someone rings the doorbell, but comes to the door when he hears my car inn the drive!), I applaud this! (and sharing).
Black cats always make me think of Bagheera in the Jungle Books, and of Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon (who was partly inspired by a black cat!).
My cousin has a three legged cat. She can still climb trees.
Our special needs black cat from the shelter was brought to them as a kitten found on the side of the road after being hit. Fixed her broken leg but had to completely remove her tail, which causes neurologic damage. She had been there 5 years (her whole life) when we adopted her. She gets 3 meds twice a day to help her bladder and bowels work. She is the sweetest cat that wants to be with us and touching us all of the time, and yes we have always felt Charcoal looks just like Toothless! She is noww 11 years old.
Love this strip. both my cats are black cats and are rescue cats, though I am not sure they realize it. One last minute from a kill shelter, because I knew no one would adopt a black kitten with a chronic eye infection. (which cleared up within a month with treatment) and a tiny traumatized black kitten from a wal-mart parking lot full of fleas and worms. Once the parasites were removed he grew into a gentle black giant of a Cat. they both adore each other and snuggle with me and each other all the time. (and watch the birds at the bird feeders outside the windows) What wonderful animals from such dicey beginnings.
They should animate this and run it as a commercial. My wonderful shelter cat, the Magnificent Tweedledee has been the joy of my life. And I always tell everyone thinking of adopting a pet to check out the shelters first
There is a blind-cat shelter/refuge near here and Amazon.com partners with them so that every time we buy from Amazon, they donate to this shelter. If you shop at Amazon, check out smile@Amazon.com to see whether they donate to a shelter in your area.
I’ve read this a few times now and it makes me tear up every single time. A cat we had for years (A manx by the name of Skittles) was a Christmas cat. One Christmas morning he wandered through the back door and parked himself in my dad’s lap. We tried to figure out who he belonged to (he was clearly well fed and used to people) but no luck. Eventually we realized he had picked us as his family and that was that. He passed the day after Christmas, exactly ten years later, and he has been missed every since. I’ve been trying to find a shelter to volunteer at in my area, and this just gives me even more reason to do so. Thanks for an amazing comic!
Wonderful strip. My wife & I have rescued quite a few, mostly from the streets. We volunteer with our local Humane Society as fosters, and feed 3 homeless kitties, with 2 of them in the works to join our family. One of those is the mama to one we brought in last year- you’d never guess she’d lived her whole life on the streets, and the grandma to 2 others we brought in a year or so before that, when they were kittens.
that almost made me cry! I have three shelter cats, warren, nugget, and mishka! mishka turning 9 in three days1 I love them all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is awesome! I couldn’t agree more with everything – especially about black cats, special needs, and older cats! If anything, at least you know what to expect with older cats. Kittens are absolutely adorable, but they have yet to develop their adult personalities.
Our new rescue kitties come home with us on Sunday. One is black and maybe 15 months old and the other is 5-6 years old. They were actually rescued from a shelter that was basically a hoarding situation, so we’re looking forward to giving them attention and love.
I had to revisit this special. My Jingle Belle Katz who I adopted almost two years ago was a skinny little cat who ran after my husband and I on our morning walks about the apartment complex. This complex, Cottenwood Ranch (sometimes called CATtenwood Ranch) has a large population of ferals that the residents feed in an offhanded manner (Some obviously get adopted, because you see a lot of kitties sitting in windows looking out at the world). Jingle Belle had a jingle bell collar on (therefore her name) appeared to have been taken up by someone as a tiny kitten (she is VERY people oriented but dislikes other cats) but then apparently was turned out to fend for herself, maybe when her people moved out. So here we were, with this vocal little cat running up with a MEW, MEW, MEW (jingle, jingle, jingle) and rolling on the sidewalk purring like mad when we showed her a little affection. My hubby is indifferent to cats and didn’t really want one in the house but knew he’d lost THAT argument when I came home from the store with a litter box, litter, and cat food. When I brought Jingle into the house she demonstrated that she knew what a litter box was for and since then has shown little interest in going outside, joining the many cats sitting on windowsills and looking (a little smugly) at the big bad world outside where feral kitties have to fight for a living. Since being spayed, Her Rotundity Jingle Belle Katz has grown a bit plump, snuggles between us in bed and sucks on the blanket, frequently gets on the table or kitchen counters and has to be squirted (though sometimes if I point at the floor and say, “DOWN!” with sufficient gravitas, she gets down… if she’s in the mood.) She is still very vocal, walks up boldly to strangers entering our home (the cable guy, for example) and rubs against them to mark them as “hers”. Most visitors are VERY surprised at how friendly she is! A second cat, alas, is not in the cards. We tried to adopt a semi-feral young black and white Tom who came to be fed and who we managed to stuff in a carry box to visit the vet and be neutered) but she kept attacking him and he refused to stay in the apartment. He finally moved out for good and while we see Oreo around the complex now and then he is clearly not interested in being a kept kitty. At least we made sure he isn’t fathering any wild kittens. If I had the money I would be catching every feral male and female on the apartment property and doing the spay/neuter and release. It broke my heart as I was feeding some of the ferals when I saw a little kitten scrounging around the edge of the group (and being growled at by the adult cats.) The little thing was so wild that as soon as I made the tiniest move toward it, the kitten fled into the bushes and I never saw it again. To quote Baba Mouse, “Neuter and spay, folks!!”
Damn, I could barely read toward the end through the tears in my eyes. So true, and so movingly said.
I was a cat socializer for a year or two at our no-kill shelter (I said the cats socialized me, which was truer) until I got sick. But not before I took three of them home with me, bringing the grand total to five. One of those three turned out to be super special needs and had been taken back to the shelter by at least one adopter. Cricket has gone through all nine lives, and now lives with epilepsy and four different types of meds. And she’s just as bright and talkative as a cat can be, despite my forcing meds on her four times a day.
Thank you for the work you do on behalf of cats everywhere!
(and “You’ve got five seconds to walk out of here before you’re wearing a Siamese cat on your face!” Hell yeah!)
I had the joy of adopting an 11-year-old Maine Coon mix named Mufasa (he’d been given the name by the shelter, and I didn’t see any reason to change it) who’d spent most of his life on the streets (and had the mange and earmites to prove it!). He passed away recently and I miss his fuzzy face. I’m in the process of moving, and will be hitting the shelters just as soon as I’m settled. I’ve had black dogs, and they were wonderful; for the life of me, I can’t figure out why people avoid black fur-babies. Maybe a black cat — or two! — will be my next housemates.
You’re welcome, Susan!! My condolences on the loss of Mufasa, I’m so sorry. I’m happy to hear you will be visiting a shelter soon, whomever you give a home to will be so grateful to join your life! <3
My wife and I have adopted 16 cats in the last 35 years. Most wandered in out of the woods, one was my Great Aunt’s companion cat, and one literally fell down our chimney! All have been loved, cared for, cherished, and when they passed, greatly missed. We now have four: two who moved down to South Carolina with us, and two adopted from the local shelter where my wife volunteers.
Our shy little rescue started chasing a balloon around our living room this week, we were overjoyed as she has never been a playful cat. She was 10 when we adopted her two years ago and we’d given up on toys but there’s some kitten left in there somewhere!
Always a warming feeling when you can give a rescue some of their life back =)
Let’s add to the 256 comments with a little story. Smores is the runt of her littler. Her mother, who was a bit attached to us at the time, despite the fact that she was owned by our neighbors, had the kittens in our backyard. Thats where i found them, in the old garden mini greenhouse. We quickly told the owners and they were taken home out of the cold, it being April in cold Idaho.
My sisters checked on them a few times, but I didn’t think much of them. Eventually, the school year started back up. Smores, who was an outside cat like her mom, would come by all the bus stops, wanting to be pet or played with. I wasn’t going to admit it, but I became rather attached to her. I was more of a dog person at the time and was trying to figure out how I could get one, despite my allergic mom. At any rate, one weekend, it for really cold and I got worried about the little calico. I convinced my mom to let her in the house to warm up. Mom then told me that she wouldn’t mind having a cat, seeing as she liked them and had personally been wanting one herself. She told me that if they had found a cat that I got attached to, they would adopt it. A little while later, Smores was welcomed into the family! She became an inside cat and is loved by all. I hope you enjoyed this story. I am now going to go cry my eyes out at this sweet comic. Farewell!
Georgia, as a long-time fan and first time commentator on your real site, have you ever thought about making this specific comic into a door-window-sized decal for shelters or for pet stores who run adoption programs? I think it might really help! I don’t even have one, but I know I would buy a couple for stores within my areas that I like and the owners of which would be thrilled to advance this message. 🙂
Both our big blue point Siamese and our little lilac-point domestic shorthair were found wandering as strays. The big male ended up with a fostering rescue, the little female was take to the SPCA after being found by some kind people in December and kept for a week while they advertised her on Kijiji.
Despite being four years apart in age and adopted a year apart, they get along better than any other pair of cats I’ve ever had. The little female, Sandy, is our tough little “West side girl” (the west side of town is the “wrong” side of the tracks) and proves it by frequently pouncing on Saxon and teasing him into play wrestling matches. Saxon is a big velcro cat who just lives to cuddle. He clearly had a good home at one time and may even be a purebred – I wonder what happened? They are an endless source of delight.
Of all the cats in your cartoon, I think Tommy reminds me the most of a cat I had – a big sweet long haired brown tabby named Merlin who came from a “free to good home” ad in the paper. He was part of our lives for nearly 19 years.
Hello Georgia! I love your comic, but I rarely comment. This one made me get a lump in my throat :(. I would adopt as many cats as I could feed, but my Dad is allergic to them and we have two pet birds. But when I’m older I’m going to get a few older and disabled cats, and try to make their new home as perfect as possible. I have been selling little quilted bags I made to raise money, and I donate all of it to our local shelter. Please keep the comics coming!
My name is Ron McCuen, a director for a no-kill cat shelter in Porter, TX. Your colum is great and I would like permission to reprint this to dislay at our adoption events.
I read this again this week. It still shreds my heart.
My GF got a rescue cat late in 2012. Binkus (the name she brought with her) was 13, and had been bounced around for several years. Other than being rich in catitude (a Calico Persian mix), she turned out to be a sweet, loving kitty once she learned she was truly home.
She passed earlier this year.
Enter Lily…. A local shelter (Left-Over Pets, where we got Binkus) emailed about a homeless (and tailless) tuxie with FeLV. Since she was without a cat, GF took her. Lily is the sweetest, cuddliest, most loving kitten (she’s a year at the oldest) I have ever met. Shelter cats are wonderful.
They came from shelters, showed up at the door hungry & needing love, they were rescued from mean kids, given to us by people who should never have another pet — EVER –, and once, when I was flagging for a road construction crew, I sensed I was being watched when the nearest place was an abandoned farm, I saw a tiny kitten, hunkered down, staring at me in a tangle of weeds. He ate the roast beef from my sandwich, drank my ice water, and settled into the truck I used to move ahead of the paving crew. Mom named him Briscoe Darlin’ (she was watching an Andy Griffith rerun when she met the little guy), and he quickly became the Zenkitty. Nothing fazed him but the Vet & fireworks (show me a kitty who ISN’T). A big, beautiful, golden & white tabby who loved the world (except Vets). Mom & Dad have him in Heaven, along with all the other kitties & doggies who passed over the Rainbow Bridge. There is a bright & beautiful place for our little ones, and we’ll be together forever! Pets enrich us more than we can ever pay back! Bless you, Georgia & EVERYONE!
Though Briscoe Darlin’ wasn’t a shelter cat, the shelter saved his life. We lost him for over a month. Put notices in the paper, prayed, etc. About given up when we got a call from the local shelter. Someone had found a scrawny, limping cat with a huge gash under a foreleg & half a tail. Called the shelter, who sent someone to get him. Blessed be! Briscoe still had his tags! They called us & we whisked him to the Vet. Without tags, they would have put him down immediately in the shape he was in. Briscoe earned the nickname “Bottlebrush” from the look of his 1/2 tail when spooked. Quickly reverted to the Zenkitty persona with a very healthy respect for cars (we think he was under a hood & was injured when trying to get away while it was moving). Moral of story: ID YOUR PET! & KEEP THEM SAFE!
One last thing about poor little Briscoe Darlin’. We had huge cast iron radiators that he loved to sleep on. One day I saw him fast asleep on one when the temps were around 0 F. He head was down & his ears were folded over on the glass window above the radiator. I thought it looked funny until he woke up & looked at me; his folded ears were flopping like a bassett! They were frostbitten & he didn’t seem to know! Off to the Vet, who was just as bemused as we were. He said to leave them alone & slowly, over a couple of weeks, they straightened up! All the rest of his life, his ears were spotted with black speckles where they were frozen. He never cared, for him it was Zen all the way. A remarkable kitty!
This is an awesome comic, I loved it. Also the bit about black cats was great, one day in my future I want to be owned by a sweet little panther. Adopt don’t shop
I absolutely love this comic strip. It is the first thing I look for in the paper each day, something I never did for any other strip. Was so glad when Elvis turned out to be a good boy. Almost like the conversion of Scrooge. Hoping for a Christmas miracle for the cat at the window who saved Elvis to find his people.
Until now, I’ve had pedigreed cats, very sweet and pretty guys, but next time I’m going to have to rethink getting a shelter cat. Thanks Georgia!
Thank you so much!! I’m delighted you like it, and I can’t say enough good things about shelter cats! Puck and Lupin have been such terrific additions to our family. 🙂
Our cats are rescues but through rescue groups and not through shelters. honestly i don’t think i could handle visiting a shelter. we don’t have any no-kill shelters in this area so it breaks my heart that i can’t save them all. maybe you or Tommy’s owner have advice on how to visit a shelter and knowing you can’t adopt them all.
I love the characters you developed for these cats. i hope we get to meet a couple of them in comics. maybe the intruder can introduce Mr “I never had a home before” to her sister’s cats. thank you for your comics, they brighten my day and are so creative!
The 6/7th, 24th, 29th, and last panels, killed me. My family had a shelter cat named Spirit when I was a kid, and when he died, my mom couldn’t bear another cat. We also got a shelter pet, actually a dog, who no one wanted to adopt because he looked like a pit bull. Shelter pets deserve more than they get and need people like you and me to advocate for them.
Ok–honestly weeping uncontrollably because this is so spot-on and also so touching. I just adopted an outdoor kitten from a feral colony at work, and she is precious and crazy and my 13 year old male tabby is having trouble adjusting (but being a good boy all the same). This made me want to go adopt five more (which I can’t do), but the reasons in this report are exactly why I donate to rescues and shelters and hope to start volunteering for some soon. Thanks for this Georgia–I will be sharing it with everyone!
We have had this Special Report hanging up at Forget Me Not Animal Shelter in Republic WA for a few years now… but it is ragged and we MUST find a new one to order. Can anyone point me in the right direction to order a new one?
Love your work. Have 4 rescue kitties. Long story but only one is from a shelter. One is named Roafkill—because he almost was. Just saying Thank you. Heidi
I knew this was going to make me cry…it did, but I’m glad it exists, and I’m glad I read it! My family has always had shelter, rescue, and foster cats. My mom has two older (17 and 18) lady cats who are with us for life (once upon a time we bottle-fed the 17-year-old, and sheltered the 18-year-old when she was a frazzled “teen mom” with five kittens) and this year she adopted twin Siamese boys who’d been adopted once and returned because that family’s dogs didn’t like them. Not their fault: they’re sweet but SO active!
My Maine Coon mix Diesel was abandoned as an adult and he found me! Today he’s a happy, healthy, flea- and tangle-free, intelligent, playful lap cat who follows me from room to room constantly. Total Velcro cat. And my Raven is a black cat – HISS! at the superstitions! (Related: You can’t imagine how loud I cheered for fierce Elvis defending Puck; I melted and cried happy tears.) Raven was born feral but befriended Diesel and me. He’s still a one-human boy, but – like Puck! – he’s a sweetie who happily spends hours on his perch watching the birds out the window, or cramming himself into cardboard boxes and chewing them apart. Both safely indoor cats now.
And sometimes the shelters get cats HOME! Last year I found a malnourished, hyperthermic little black and white cat hiding by my apartment; super-sweet, but skin and bones, and she wouldn’t eat or drink. I brought her inside (Diesel was very courteous) and stayed up with her, syringe-feeding her on kitten milk. Took her to the shelter to get her proper medical help…and she was microchipped! She’d walked 20 miles, across multiple highways, in the 100+-degree heat of a Texas July! Shelter called her family and Speckles got to go home. I still think about her.
By some purrfect timing, I just got a fundraising email from my city’s (10 years no-kill!) animal shelter so I will be recalculating my monthly budget, and looking into pet-focused disaster relief. My local shelters took in hundreds of lost and shelter pets last year when Harvey hit. They (and their fellows on the East Coast now) are HEROES.
Very recent BCN reader, but wondering how I got by without it. Thank you Ms. Georgia! You and your art and your family, whether they have four legs or three or two, are a light in the world – a very bright jar of Christmas lights indeed!
When this first became available as a poster I bought one to frame for my local animal shelter. It still hangs just outside the “cat room” where every one that enters gets to read it and it helps them decide what kind of kitty they would like to adopt. I had volunteered at the shelter when I retired and wound up with a total of six adoptees, thankfully, my wife, now deceased, was a real cat person who suffered badly from rheumatoid arthritis and had one particular cat that provided her with love and comfort. Now my babies keep me company both day and night and I could never knowingly be without a cat. Since this particular story has led to many adoptions, I would suggest that at least once a year this should be rerun to keep shelters in the “news”, especially around the holiday season.
What a great plug for adopting a shelter cat! Our daughter adopted two cats while she was living in the Bar Harbor area after graduating from College of the Atlantic. One that was seriously ill eventually disappeared but his brother hung in there and ended up with us back home when our daughter went to graduate school. He took over the house and our hearts. A 15 pound tabby Manx with a stubby tail. I am guessing from Georgia’s life history and artistic talents that she attended RISD, where our daughter now works.
Thank you, William! I wish, but I’m sorry to say they rejected my application when I applied to them many years ago. I’ll always have some “what ifs,” but I feel that it all worked out in the end.
My baby is a rescue, and I can’t imagine life without her. She is not a multi-cat-home cat, though, so she is my only baby. Between my mom and my sister, however, the family has another 5 rescues currently, and several others in the past. 😀
First time reader, long time listener to my co-worker’s tales of Breaking Cat News, and now a fan! “Literally everyone in your life requires food and water and has emotional needs” – so true. Thank you for this.
Cheers! So nice! Really effective, this should be shared everywhere! we love or rescues, they love us soooo much thier live seem to extend unnaturally so. Love it! Can’t wait to add more.
I have gotten four cats, one from a rescue organization and three from Animal Control. I have had all of them, one at a time. Tipper, we had to take back, he was very young, to rambunctious and kept clawing my Hubby, who is Diabetic and on blood thinners. Then we got Mollie, a true Tuxedo Rumpie Manx that had been declawed. She was an older cat and naturally fantastic. She past away, in my arms. Then, we got Kitty Kitty at an Animal Control, she was an older declawed cat, too. She an awesome cat but hated all other cats. She also, past away at home. Now, we have Pepper, a young cat but is merely wonderful with everyone she meets. We got Pepper at an Animal Shelter, too. I love and have loved all of the cats. I do prefer to get older declawed cats. Please, I would never declaw a cat, but I like having indoor cats and declawed cats to need to be a full house cat.
Darn it Georgia! You’re not supposed to make me get all teary eyed at work! I especially liked Elvis telling the one person here works be wearing a Siamese cat on his face!
Oops posting via phone, sorry for the typo!!
SAME HERE! This hits sooo close to home. We have 2 black cats, one of which was dumped on the street by his previous owner because he has lymphoma. I’m hugging all of them as soon as I get home.
That made me LOL! <3!!!
Ya that is funny
OMG. had me crying. this is so awesome.
OMG all the feels!! I love my shelter cats so very much I can’t picture my life without them!!!!
Beautiful! Perfect! Thank you so much, Georgia.
Ok, that made me cry. And am I just unobservant? I didn’t realize Puck only had 3 legs.
Check the ones last year from around this time, when the people were putting up “images of Puck” for the season. “Those cats only have TWO legs.” SO CUTE.
‘S okay, I’d bet Puck doesn’t notice it, either!
Here it is! http://www.breakingcatnews.com/comic/the-people-are-hanging-pictures-of-puck-all-over-the-apartment/
Thanks! You know, I read that, but never really connected the dots! 🙂
I wish I could go adopt a cat right now….
This made me cry, and it’s awesome.
Oh my gosh, I cannot stop crying! My boyfriend and I have been talking about adding a third kitty, and I’m thinking it may be time!
Stupid awesome touching sweet awesome comic. Making me tear up at work. *sniffles* *waits impatiently to go home and hug her adopted kitty*
This is a very moving strip. And all those shelter cats are very cute too. (I like the little shy one and the grandpa cat best!
This report has been in the works for a WHILE. I began this last year before we even knew we were going to have our daughter! (You may be able to tell, some of the art and lettering is much more like the first few BCN strips in places).
I hope you enjoy this, it’s a subject very dear to our family. Puck and Lupin, as many of you know, were adopted from Purrfect Pals in Washington state. I could not begin to imagine life without them! Lupin is deaf and Puck is a black kitty with three legs. And they are both AWESOME. I hope this inspires folks to go to shelters for their next kitty friend! If at least 5 cats world wide are not adopted from this strip, I have not done my job! Haha!!
All three of my cats are old, and one them is a black cat AND deaf AND she’s the oldest (at 17). She is also totally chill and purrs loud and constantly. People who pass up cats like her are missing out.
I love you and your work!
Thank you, Katie!!
I figured it would have taken a while…you know, because of all the crying in between panels. >.<;;;
Great strip though! Such a good message and so many of the classic little details that bring everything to the next level. <3
A friend of mine is adopting 2 shelter cats because of this cartoon, so I think you’re doing OK here, Georgia. My husband and I want to adopt one or two more, but our eldest (17) is in renal failure – doing OK for now – but we know the level of care and cost ahead of us, and we’re concerned adding another cat might put him under too much stress and hasten his decline.
Awwww, I agree with you and think you are being so good to your eldest to consider him! That’s so important, especially to keep things the same for him while he is going through discomfort. I hope “doing OK” lasts a long time!! And oh my goodness, please, please thank your friend for me! That makes me so happy to hear!!
This is so wonderful in so many ways — what a gift to shelters and shelter cats everywhere!
You are a masterful storyteller and artist with a BEAUTIFUL heart!!!
I’m not crying, I just have something in my eyes. This is so beautiful, I want to keep reading it, but now my throat is choked up.
So absolutely true – mine have always been rescues or rejects from bad Human beings.. and Betsthecat is a black cat and I am very very very lucky to have her, she is the centre of my life ! – Breaking cat news ALWAYS makes my day !
I did tear up, not gonna lie! All four of my babies are rescues, and I cannot imagine my life without them. I want the cat version of a “dalmatian plantation”!!
Spencer, Boyd, Jonwalker, Hazza and I think you’re AMAZING for raising awareness, especially about black cats! My Boyd is the sweetest, most beautiful soul in the world.
Were your cats named after the members of Panic! At The Disco bc that is freakin cool
Heart rending AND spot on…all of our 8 cats are rescues and strays, two boys and 6 girls–wish we had room for more. But they all get along, all love being inside kitties and love us as we love them. Yes, we did adopt a black feral stray–she is Cleocatra, Queen of the house. And half credit for Jasper–who’s a black and white long hair. We’ve experienced SO many of your adventures–not to mention trying to manage a herd!
One of ours is Cleocatra, too! She was rescued from a friend’s woodpile.
Sniffle … well done Georgia. I donate every month to a local shelter. It’s not much but I figure every little but helps!
Awesome, Georgia!
I’ m celebrating 20 years with my black shelter cat. :0)
We have 4 rescues. They are all lunatics & they are all wonderful
Well done! Thank you.
This is amazing. I have three rescues – two of which are black – and all three were abandoned.
I was so happy to give them a good and happy home, and wish everyone who can, takes a rescue.
Thank you so much for using your platform to voice this message.
*cry*
Thank you so much for making this strip! Shelter pets are near and dear to my heart, and I’m always happy to see comic strips such as Mutts and Breaking Cat News championing the cause. I hope that, someday, all pets find their homes.
Thanks for this beautiful announcement. Now I have to look for a shelter and donate to them (hubby is allergic to cats).
Wonderful job of bringing attention to shelter cats, Georgia. I adopted my little guy, Felix, from our local humane society going on three years ago. He was eight months old and had been brought to the shelter by someone when he showed up in their yard. He loves nothing more than to crawl up onto me near my face and butt his head back against me so that I can give him kisses between his ears. Pets give us such unconditional love that I cannot begin to imagine my house without “my boys” (not to mention my “nephew” — my mother’s dog, Eddie).
Georgia, I had JUST stopped crying five minutes ago from the first time you should this to me. WHERE ARE MY TISSUES!?!?
I’m looking for the picture I took of you reading this last year right now!!!
This totally wiped me out. Going to increase my monthly donation to our local shelter and hug my two shelter kitties RIGHT NOW.
No no no no – that just broke my heart! You’re not s’posed to make me CRY! :'( Every one of my (7) cats is either a rehomed or rescued kitty, and to earn their love and trust is the most beautiful thing ever.
By the way, I have found my new phrase for when I am really angry with someone, thanks to this strip. “Go away before I make you wear a Siamese cat on your face!”
all my cats are shelter cats. The latest arrival was left behind at an apartment when a college kid moved on with his life. She is five years young and willing to dominate my home. We have taken in older cats (8 and ten years old) even though kittens are cute. Our black cat was left behind when her house mate and sister was adopted. Poor black cat. We have even adopted ex-show cats after their breeder owner has “moved on” to a younger showier cat. When the shelter says they will take the cat back if it doesn’t fit in we tell them that a cat is for 20 years. We have a big house. We will find a way to make the relationship work.
Thanks for making me cry again.
I particularly liked Elvis leaping to Puck’s defense.
Every cat I have ever had in my life has been a rescue in one way or another (and there have been many) – thank you for this! And I LOVE Elvis dropping the mic 😀
OH MY GOD THIS IS SO FULL OF WIN.
Rockin’ one heck of a sore throat thanks to this strip. If you’ll excuse me, I have 4 shelter cats at home that need to be snuggled whether they like it or not!
Darned allergies! My Loki was left at a shelter by an owner who, despite having other animals, decided that he was too much work. He’s the quietest, sweetest cat. He has almost relaxed and accepted that he is never leaving us and we’ll never ever leave him. Black cats rock!
Wonderful Feline interest piece from the BCN family.
I’ve gotten all my kitties from the shelter or as strays. Tons of character and love!
Got me to tear up again, Georgia.
oh the tears are here too! I have one black cat who is blind in one eye that I intended to rescue and a lovely if somewhat skittish formal feral cat that I didn’t intend to rescue but I love them both to pieces!
“I’m a good boy.” I started crying my eyes out and am still crying..Jackson, my snowshoe rescue thanks you. He came to the shelter about two to three weeks after he was born, having been stabbed in his side and full of fleas. He cried incessantly and I was volunteering one day and found him there. He kept calling out and I had to answer.He was post op and healing so I bathed him and put my name on his cage and as soon as he was able, he came home and is now a huge hunk of love that we love and adore..I’m sure all three of them want to thank you Georgia because tonight they will get extra treats and extra love..beautiful story that shows each of their hearts, so wonderfully made….😊
Oh, poor, poor Jackson! I’m so glad he found you and has a loving home now!
And I was in floods when I drew that little kitty. True story, I had to stop and draw all their adoptions first before I could continue. AND I based all their adopters on friends and family, ha, so I “knew” they were going to good homes in the comic. The woman who adopted the sweet, shy little cat is based on my Mom. The guys who adopted the black kitty and the elderly ginger kitty are based on two of my dear friends. The person who adopted the good boy (my personal favorite kitty in this special) is based on the person who helps me write the Spanish parts of the comic! …And some of you may have already recognized the Intruder in there….
I lost it there too.
The guy that adopted the elderly ginger kitty reminds me of Aaron.
This special report is fantastic and I hope it gets shared far and wide. Keep up the good work.
I based him on Aaron!! 🙂 And thank you so much!
I love that he’s even dressed like me. The cat is just charming and kinda reminds me of Moonlight Graham.
Thank you so much for this. Of the five kitties with whom my husband and I have shared our lives, three are shelter kitties and two would have been had we not intervened before they ended up in a shelter. And I used to socialize kitties at a cage-free shelter to which my husband still donates annually. Thena and Gail are no longer with us, but Heidi, Sean, and Jenny thank you as well.
Congratulations Georgia! You knocked it out of the park a broke the site. Thanks so much for doing this!
Thank you, Aaron!!! Everyone, I based the gentleman who adopted the elderly ginger kitty on this fellow’s appearance!!
Like most … yep, crying here. (I lost my old girl 11 years ago – which doesn’t seem possible. She adopted me when her owners decided 3 cats were too much to look after so let Maggie & Mikey run wild. She was 20 or 21 when she passed.) It’s a time of change right now but once things settle down, I’ll be heading to my local shelter to find a new friend. Hopefully a black one.
AAAWWW!!!!!!! You have me sniffling. All three of our cats are shelter cats; two of them are black cats, and I’ve never had better pets! We love our boys more than anything!
I want to adopt them all! Sniff, sniff.
Awesome job Georgia!
Shelter cats are the best! My little Xena was found on the streets when she was 4 weeks old and taken to Animal Control. From there she was rescued by PAWS Chicago and given to a foster family. I adopted her at the age of 8 weeks and she’s been a joy ever since. And she’s just the latest in a long and greatly loved string of shelter kitties who have made my life so much richer with their love and antics.
Totally agree, they are the best kitties!! And yay for Xena!!! (And oh my goodness, I HAVE to email you back, I’m sorry it’s been this long! It’s been a pretty crazy few weeks).
You know, I just got over a cold and thought I could put the tissues away (or at least out of immediate reach) and now my nose is running and all stuffed up because I’m crying like an idiot. When you do strips like these I wish I owned stock in the companies that make tissues!
How can something so beautiful make me cry so much? Our newest kitty (almost 1yro now) is a little black girl with pumpkin eyes who showed up on our back porch screaming. She had a huge wound on her back where likely a great horned owl tried to carry her off. Rocky The Cat has not really warmed up to little Olivia Owsley but turning her into the shelter was not going to happen for exactly the reason you described. Our previous shelter cats were also black. Black cats rock!
Awww, what a great comic and I totally agree!
All kitties need homes. <3
My kitty is from a shelter. I actually intended to get a cat 5+ years old, and/or otherwise hard to adopt out, but my boy is over a year now (was anywhere from 7-10 months when I got him).
You can't argue when a cat picks you though, and Cosmo picked me as his human as soon as he saw me 🙂
He wouldn't take his eyes off of me, and when I was filling out the paperwork to get him every time I turned around to look at him from across the room, he was still staring, and would meow when he saw I was looking at him. When waiting for a friend to come back with the carrier, a volunteer took him out and put him in my lap, and he plopped right down and started purring. First night home, he cuddled with me all night and kept purring. He's still happy with me, and I've had him for almost a year this October 2nd.
It's amazing how cats pick you as their human.
All the feels! Me and my tortie and black cat salute you, well, I salute you. Those two purr in your general direction.
Georgia, what a wonderful thing you did for shelter cats. As the owner of 1 shelter cat right now and many more in the past, I want to thank you for being their voice and shining a light on their helplessness. Just think of all the beautiful kitties that may get “forever homes” because of you. God bless!!!
I’m live from a private fishing dock where I almost lost my catch (and my pole) to read this!!!
I’m definitely sharing this post on Facebook.
With some help from my friends, we are seeking a place for me to settle down by myself.
On top of the list….”Finding THE perfect cat at the shelter” to keep me company in a few months..
(Was playing with a friends kitten last Saturday and they were shocked to hear it finally give a soft
Mew !!!)
Stay tuned!!!
Wonderful piece, Georgia! My first kitty was a rescue (stray found in a park) and my current two were adopted from the Humane Society when they were both 8 – with the “too much resposibility” excuse as the reason their deceased owner’s extended family gave them up! D: They’re sweet kitties and the most precious possessions I have – though they really posess me! I couldn’t imagine life without them!
And you’ve also reminded me that I want to take up quilting this season, and make some blankets for our local shelters! :3
Thank you! I got my two best friends from a shelter over a decade ago, and just picked up two kittens last month. They’re amazing. Do you want someone who will reflect all the love you give to them back ten-fold? Go visit your nearest (or farthest if you like to drive?) animal shelter! Right Meow!
Georgia, this is magnificent. I’ve read it six times and it still makes me tear up.
And I love that you gave a mention to older cats. Our girl Selma was an abandoned housecat who took up shelter in our backyard. She was probably around 7 or 8 when we found her; she’s about 14 or 15 now. She has flashes of kitten behavior, but for the most part, she is content to sit on our laps or next to us on the sofa. She is chatty and affectionate, and it kills me to think of her being left behind, alone and uncared for. She makes our lives better every day. Adopting an older cat is one of the best things we’ve ever done.
Thank you, Jen! The Man and I have dreams of taking in an older cat or two once we are settled in a house again (vs the apartment). They’re so sweet and they deserve to be safe and spoiled!
All my cats have been shelter kitties. It feels so good to make someone’s life!
OH Georgia – so close to home. I was downsized and had to rehome two of my FIVE rescues when I moved in with mom – thanks to RESCUE I got them BOTH BACK. (And they know, and you can tell how grateful and happy they are)… Partly thanks to people who don’t update chips. Partly because I stayed in touch with one of the adopters. We’re family again.
Oh, I am so happy you could be reunited!! That is a wonderful story!
Aww, what a great comic! My kitty started life as a rescue cat, and I took her in a couple of years ago when a friend couldn’t keep her any more. I wish I could go to the shelter right now and adopt all the cats, but I suspect my current critter would have some objections to that, so I’ll just have to send some money my local rescue’s way for now!
Do NOT attempt to read this in a public place. You will draw stares when you start bawling.
Wonderful! I recently adopted 2 kittens Candy and Choco ( from the same litter ) after my first shelter cat and best buddy Gil passed away at almost 15 years old. The kittens are now half grown and I am considering adding one more. once again, beautiful report.
My kitty rescued himself by crawling into the engine of my car! Long story, but he rode with me, unknown to me, for over 12 hours, and nearly a hundred miles. I’d seen him at school in the morning, and when I got home, he just got out from under the car and moved in! He was unharmed, but very hungry. Now he rules the house!
Fosterer here – including a big white deaf boy once! (Wow they’re loud)
For anyone interested it’s tough handing them back sometimes, but when you send their bios and photos to the shelter and they get rehomed you can say “I did that” and it’s always lovely to get feedback from their new owners.
My current foster kitten, Viola, sends her snuffly purrs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_Ez70IvvFw9U1d2TnVfcDVKNms
Heh. My last cat was black and had three legs. His name was Ahab.
Georgia, this is so wonderful and true. Thank you from us and and our history with ahelte cats.
Ohhh, got me right in the feels. Nicely done 🙂
This has to be the longest breaking cat news ever!And Elvis?And then there’s that cat who was playing video games!So cute!By the way,I do have a cat from the shelter whose name is Berlioz.
Thank you!! Ooh, I love that name!
Speaking of video games, my Perrine comes and sits by the iPad and asks me to start the Game For Cats app, and if I don’t then she watches all the screens for something that looks like she could pounce on it. So: she has discovered video games.
Perrine is not from a shelter — I wasn’t looking to adopt a cat at the time. She’s from my back porch, and sauntered into the house like she owned it after she decided I wasn’t scary after all. After calls to Animal Control, a trip to the local SPCA to see whether she was chipped, and several “Found Cat” signs taped to lampposts, plus friends offering to help with vet bills, suddenly I had a <4 lb cat who looked like a kitten. (She's still a smallish cat, but many years of not-starving made her look like a healthy adult.)
What I haven't figured out a decade later, is who could abandon such a _sweet_, affectionate kitty (and poor hunter — good at catching but doesn't know how to kill) to starve on the streets of Baltimore. (She had a pink collar with a bell, so I know she'd had another home.) Anyhow, not from a shelter, but definitely a rescue. Now I can't imagine being without her.
She sounds lovely. I adore that she likes video games, that’s so cool!
HOW DID IT SUDDENLY GET SO DUSTY IN HERE? *sniff*
Four years ago we adopted a 16 year black cat called Spike from a animal rescue to join our current family of 7 cats & other animals. He is now 20 & is doing well, such a wonderful boy, full of personality & character. We love him to bits!
I’m glad I got home before I looked at this… I have tears in my eyes. I’m so glad you did this!
The best part: the idea of that guy getting a face-hug by Elvis!!!!
All of our cats have been rescued, one way or another, and though we can’t care for any more of them, we rescue strays when we can.
I particularly like the old gentleman cat. With his mustache, he looks a lot like me … at least 8-ball and Waffle think so …
That’s wonderful. One of the most joyful things I’ve had happen to me was to bring home my Jasmine K Katt a very small 5 pound 13 year old black kitty. She was in the shelter for a year, a whole year. She may be slow sometimes and she sure does love to sleep( what intelligent kitty doesn’t?) but she still has a bit of youngster in her. Great great comic.
Oh, the FEELS!
Both our girls are shelter cats. They were found in a box in a park (along with a third sister) and we just fell in love with these two immediately. We really only wanted two cats, but we didn’t want to break up the set, so we spent an hour talking and thinking about it… and had just decided to go ahead and adopt all three when somebody adopted the third.
I like looking at the kitties and doggies in pet stores… but I’d never buy one from there. Not with all the shelters and SPCA and whatnot around.
All of my cats are shelter cats. And each one is loved despite bow getting older and having special needs or not all getting along every second. Shelter cats are the best.
Oh gosh, this made me tear up a little. I think people who don’t want to adopt black cats because of superstition are just plain stupid. I have a particular fondness for black cats, and if it wasn’t for allergies in the family I’d get another one(I have one, the allergies aren’t too bad with just one).
Awesome strip, very touching and getting one thinking.
Cats are great 🙂
I remember one time when I took Princess out to the pet store, she liked going out. A woman commented on her being out and I said it might be because she is deaf. She had the nerve to say Princess was lucky to have me and not have her put down. I was so mad, I never thought of doing that or giving her back. She didn’t know she was deaf and it never slowed her down. She lived to be 17. I still miss her. I totally understand Lupin and you and how we have to do to adapt to them.
Beautiful!
I gotta go cuddle my beautiful shelter cat now!
Our local SPCA is a no-kill shelter. No-kill shelters need lots of support. They are always overburdened with animals because they don’t kill them.
http://www.spcaonline.com/
*sniff* Right in the feels
Story time! My little Deuces never even made it to the shelter. My two best friends found her wandering about outside their town home. They husband (in secret!) and then the wife had started feeding her and letting her sleep on their porch, but they had three other cats, and really couldn’t do more at the time. It was clear she was pretty sick and emaciated, even though one of their neighbors had managed to squeeze a flea collar on her, and she’d been being fed pretty consistently for about a week. One day I came over and met Deuces. It was love at first sight. My friend helped me bundle her up in a book shipping box and take her to my home, helped me get cat toys, food, a litter box. A few days later, I took Deuces to the vet. She had worms, her bones had fused before she really should have been done growing due to malnutrition (she is a TINY cat), she weighed six pounds (although when she’s hale and healthy she only weighs 10, lol), but her biggest problem was impacted and infected mammary glands. She’d probably been abandoned because she got pregnant, and when something-something likely tragic 🙁 – happened to her kittens, she wasn’t able to get rid of her milk and it calcified, creating this hard, flat area along her chest and stomach, like someone had taped a small board to her and then covered it in fur. I de-wormed her, got her antibiotics and all the vet care she needed, got all her shots, then had her spayed once she was healthy (but not before she went into heat TWO TIMES…up all night with yowling, ugh, not fun).
In the first month I took care of her, I probably spent around $1000 on getting cat supplies and vet care. She is a trouble-making cat (she can be bitey, she hates other animals, and one time she opened a packet of Oreos, pulled them all out, and then ate the cream filling in the middle only), but worth every penny.
My Deuces: http://imgur.com/jrg19pu
(I thought about posting a cute image of her curled up sleeping on my bed…in my fiancee’s spot…but I decided to go with a picture that better reflects her personality).
Such a beautiful, wonderful message. Thank you, Georgia. I’m now all sniffly as I think of my own shelter cat… my sweet, fuzzy research assistant Sara. She was my little shadow and and wonderful companion. Three months after adopting her, she became very I’ll – it turned out she had asthma, but since it wasn’t being treated, it turned into bronchitis. I used to call her my $3,000 free cat. 🙂 She brought eight years of love into my home before I lost her to illness. I think of her every day!
My now-fiancé has two fabulous fuzzy boys, and we both volunteer at the local shelter. Though I think he’s waiting for the day when I come home with another one (or seven)! 🙂
Thank you for the sniffle-smiles!!!
Oops – make that “ill”, not I’ll… silly autocorrect!!
Thank you with all my heart for sharing this special report, Georgia. I worked at North Shore Animal League for several years and nowadays, I volunteer at the local shelter. Each was full of wonderful cats (and dogs) who had absolutely nothing wrong with them, they just wanted to be safe & loved. And yes, black cats, senior cats and special needs cats getting adopted were a rarity. Looking into their faces day after day, seeing this lost and confused look on their faces when they were continuously passed by, just about broke my heart. All 3 of my cats were rescues and each had its own personality, just like people. If anyone is thinking of adding to their family, they should definitely give shelter cats a chance – they’re not throwaways or ‘bad’ somehow, they’re just waiting for someone to love them back.
Now I’m going to go wash my face and blow my nose a thousand times so I’ll stop looking like I stuck my face in a bowl of raw, chopped onions… 😉
PS Elvis’ defense of Puck had me both laughing and crying harder lol Such a funny/touching moment in a wonderful, heartfelt strip. Thank you again. Now for more tissues…
My husband and I have been married 27 years. We found our first cat a month after our wedding–a black cat that had been obviously dumped by people moving out of the townhouses where we rented. Katt was the purrfect addition to our new lives together. Because she was lonely, we soon also were joined by a stray kitten that was found in the top of a 40 foot pine tree next to a home owned by my parents’ friends. Roberta and Katt helped us welcome our children into this world and became fast friends with the newest little people. And so it has gone on through the years. We are currently are owned by our 5th and 6th rescue kitties one of whom is black and has a terrible issue with bladder crystals so has been on a special diet for years. Our other cat Snickers is a crème American Shorthair who thinks he is a dog. 🙂 We also have 2 rescue beagles which makes Snickers very happy.
At least I’m no longer congested
Nine years ago today I lost my life partner Meriadoc, so I was already crying. This made me just sob because I wish I could rescue everyone. I’ve rescued an elderly cat, and some cats who would have been put to sleep otherwise, and I even have an indoor feral. I wish I had more to give. You make such an eloquent and wonderful plea to people on behalf of the shelter cats. Thank you, Georgia.
Thank you, Kate! I am so sorry for your loss. 🙁
i know we were warned… but this made me cry!!! i have a special place in my heart for rescues (my parents adopted both their dogs)
my cat, cosmo, is also a rescue from the aspca. he’s an older (he was 5 when i adopted him), black cat with a minor disability (he needs his ears cleaned) so he really hit all three 🙂 he was adopted from a hoarding situation and i don’t get the impression that he ever had enough to eat or that he ever interacted with people before being adopted.
anyway, thank you for writing this! it is such an important issue and i hope it inspires people to adopt/volunteer/and-or donate to their local shelters
*sniff* The “I’m a good boy” kitty reminds me a lot of a kitty I just adopted from a friend who fell on hard times. I think I need to go pet him now.
Wonderful story Georgia. I tried fostering two of the 72 kitties rescued from a camper in a hospital parking lot 2 1/2 years ago but wound up adopting them instead. 🙂 With your permission, I would like to forward this to the foster coordinator at the Regional Animal Shelter of King County.
Absolutely! Please do!
Oh, man, I wasn’t expecting to be crying after seeing this. What a WONDERFUL special edition. Thank you so much! Hits home today because I mentioned to a friend at work that we had our cat Earl’s left eye removed on Monday – glaucoma – and she looked at me and said “Good for you! Most people would put him down!” She would do the surgery for one of her animals, too, but she & I both know plenty of people who would not. Our 8-year-old dark grey Earl looks a lot like Puck. 🙂 Earl was found under a house as a very young kitten, and has always been a cheerful fella. He’s doing just fine with one eye. My other five cats (two shelter cats, one cat from a hoarding situation, another grey stray cat, and my two boys adopted from irresponsible people) haven’t hissed at Earl or otherwise shown any worry about his new look or even his “vet’s office smell” after he first came home. I treasure all your comic strips (and love love love my print from your first limited edition) but this one will have a special place in my heart along with the Elvis & Tommy Christmas story…and many others, come to think of it! 🙂 (Anxiously awaiting the book.) Thank you again for being a wonderful, talented artist willing to share your gift and your lovely family of humans and cats with all of us!
Thank you, Kristine!! 😀
My kitty, Sookie (a fiesty tricolor), was left behind at two weeks old when her family moved away. She was rescued by a vet tech that had a couple older cats that wanted to beat up on her so she had to stay in a crate most of the time for her safety. The tech was trying to rehome her and someone from work said I might be up for it. I was moving to a place with more space and windows…the perfect spot for a kitty. I decided to wait to bring her home after moving so she would be less stressed.
In the process of packing, my grandma had been looking to adopt an orange cat and when I found a household with 3 litters of kittens (with one orange) being given away (super sad situation) I brought home a second six week old gray tuxedo who already had fleas and ear mites (Jack) to be company for Sookie. Sookie wasn’t that thrilled initially but Jack’s sweetness has helped her loosen up and become more sociable.
Your strip has me hugging my kitties extra closely tonight.
I almost made it, almost…then, “I hope you like quiet Sunday mornings”…can’t.stop.crying.
This was your best report ever, and a cause so close to my heart. Excuse me, I have to go buy more tissues. <3
Georgia, you are an absolute treasure! You and your whole family have the most beautiful energy and hearts. You have an incredible talent and you are spreading so much good energy and joy to the world. My happiest days of the week are the days you have a new strip. Thank you for being such a special human being and fellow Kitty Mama!
Thank you so much, Karen!!!
It makes me really sad thinking about cats (or any animal) who can’t find homes! This was a beautiful comic! I started crying! If I could I’d find homes for all homeless animals!
Georgia — this is such a wonderful piece. It teaches so many lessons — not only the need to help others, but loyalty, acceptance and tolerance to boot. I may use this as part of a lesson to my middle school students. BRAVA! BRAVA! BRAVA!
STORY TIME, part deux: Fido picked me at a local cat adoption center, O’Malley came from a co-worker. Fido is a true lover, always willing to welcome any visitor to the house. O’Malley is a bit more skittish but makes her presence known by loud and persistent meows.
BRAVA! BRAVA! BRAVA!
Yay!! Please do, I hope the kids can learn something from it, the idea of that makes me quite happy!
*sniff* I love my two cats (one a barn kitten, one a stray who wound up on our porch); and we have 4 outside cats we feed regularly even if we can’t look after them to the same degree we do our inside cats…
But there’s always more in need. (And this is sadly true of people as well. *sigh*)
Well done Georgia, even though it makes me sad this is seriously brilliant, and I hope it gets some people in a position for a new cat to adopt.
The feels!!!! So awesome. My fav – “I’m not a sociopath “
Ok, I am seriously crying right now. All of our cats growing up were stray kitties that adopted us. Right now we live with extended family members, one of whom is seriously allergic to cats, so we can’t have any lovey fluff balls, but getting a shelter kitty is on the short list when we are back down to just my partner, our son, and myself.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this oh so important message. I have only had one shelter cat, an older Russian blue type. The rest of the girls were all strays or dumpees, including one who was both spayed and declawed before being dumped. Grrrrr. ..More advantages to adopting an older cat ? You know their purrsonality, temperament, size, if they get along with other animals or prefer to be an only pet, they are often litter box trained and want only a chance at happiness. I think they know, and are grateful, as I am grateful for the joy they add to each and every day around here.
All my dogs have been shelter dogs, though, and my husband and I support a few shelters, including purrfect pals, up near Seattle. They also get all of my old towels, which are always in demand.
That’s the shelter Puck and Lupin came from! They do great work. 🙂
Thank you! This is my most favorite thing I ever saw! (to infinity). This is why I volunteer
Now I’m crying and I already have six cats
This comic made me cry. My tiny little special-needs black cat is in the other room but I might need to go and get her and give her a great big hug. Thank you for sharing this extremely important special report–I hope it goes far and wide and encourages people to adopt kitties in need.
Wonderful, wonderful strip. I choked up many times while reading it. Thinking how could anyone give up those sweet cats. I understand various situations that would cause it. All of my cats, past and present were ferals. I befriended them and took them in to their forever homes. There are still many more outside, some of which have been spayed/neutered. I do feed all those that come to my door and if there is another opening in my house, that cat, too, will have a home. Thank you Georgia for bringing this important issue to everyone’s attention.
Right in the feels Georgia, what a lovely comic. My boy was a shelter cat: I think he must’ve had a family previously but he got hit by a car and they probably couldn’t afford his vet bills. He was skinny and very dirty when I first saw him but it was mean to be. He’s neither skinny nor dirty now though must’ve been raised with dogs considering how food-centric he is. Now it’s been 10 years and he’s still going strong!
Hi Georgia, I’m not able to see the report
Hi Moll, sorry about that! There seems to have been an issue with the first link. This should work, http://www.breakingcatnews.com/breaking-cat-news-special-report-shelter-cats/ or click the “Special Report” tab on the menu bar on the BCN main page.
Hi Georgia, still no pictures, no worries it might be my tablet. I can almost picture the story from the comments, and will give extra cuddles to the shelter kitties when I see them tomorrow 🙂
It may be the tablet viewing, I’m sorry. This comic is larger than most of the strips on Breaking Cat News and some phones and tablets may have an issue loading it. I’m sorry, Moll!!
It’s ok, sad to miss it, but when I get a chance will try to get a sneak viewing on another computer and introduce more people to this wonderful comic.
Thank you, Moll!!
You did the impossible. You used a comic to make my face leak. Big tough grumpy old army me!
Shared this with all my cat rescue groups, and crazy cat ladies.
*crying* This hit me hard – our much-loved kitty Banana was the “rough start in life” cat. She was picked up with a feral colony in a TNR program, then was obviously so lovey with humans that a rescue took her in. We adopted her in 2009 and she passed away in February. As an FIV kitty, she was special needs – and one of the best cats ever, to us.
Nothing makes me cry faster than elderly people with elderly pets. So sweet, so inevitably sad. And old cats are so loving and awesome.
My two girls were found on the side of the road (and rescued by friends!), one newborn and one very young and terrified mom. I will never understand people who can treat animals like that.
Great job Georgia; so true about shelter cats. Shelter kitties just need a chance, and some love. Quick story here – we had gone to adopt two cats from a shelter in Ft Lauderdale Florida a few years ago, had the two cats picked out, and were told to come pick them up the next day after they got checked out and had their shots. The next day we found out ALL the cats in the facility had passed away – some quick-acting virus had gotten them. We were upset but determined, so we went to the animal shelter in Miami Dade and got two kitties(then kittens) that we still have to this day – Louie and Thelma. We love them dearly, and can’t imagine being without them!
Growing up all of our cats were some form of rescue. We adopted a black cat from a fire on our street, saving her from the shelter. When she got old and sleepy we were advised to get her a friend. – came back with 3.All from the RSPCA. Then as they died, from old age, or misadventures,we adopted more shelter cats. One old ginger boy with cancer who’s last days were filled with love, One semi-feral barn cat who has just about tamed after years of patience.
Project cats love you more I think. All those who grab an easy cat don’t know what they’re missing. And black cats are good luck. I can prove it. One of ours saved my life
The most heartfelt strip yet. Awesome job !! Some creep dumped three tiny kittens in my garbage can. A friend adopted Stripe, Vito & Miss Shady have become best buddies with my tuxedo, the ever debonair, Louis.
Man, this made me cry so much. I wish I could adopt all the kitties, but my building will only let me have one!
When we were adopting my kitty they introduced us to a bunch of cats, and some of them had stories of how they got there. There was one cat who had been brought in because the child in the house had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. I don’t think the volunteers knew why that was a big deal, but I have two cousins with CF and one of the symptoms is that their lungs fill up with fluid, and any sort of irritant (like if you’re mildly allergic to cat dander!) is only going to make it worse. I told them that was one of the few good reasons I had ever heard for giving up a pet.
We’ve had 3 cats and all of them have been strays that adopted us. Our first was black and lived for 18 yrs. He was joined by a little girl when he was 8. She came around with an older cat we assumed was her mother. When her mother stopped coming with her, we assumed Mom had been killed. So we enticed her into the house and she latched on to our older boy (much to his annoyance – for a little while) On an evening about 6 months later, both cats were staring out the window and when I looked out, there was the mother staring up at her baby! It was heart-breaking! But we never saw her again and figured she just wanted to make sure her baby was taken care of. She died at 14. Now our current boy is 14 but in excellent health. I can’t imagine any of them having to live on the streets. I know we’ll get a shelter cat(s) when our boy is no longer with us.
Aw, what a sweet story, Barbara! Thank you for sharing it. What a sweet Mama cat to check in on her little one.
Lord have mercy, what a powerful piece of writing and illustration.
This should be copied, linked, propagated and posted everywhere. There are a LOT of people that need to see it.
Thank you Georgia, for doing this!
And yes, there are cultures present and past in which black cats are symbols of good luck and prosperity.
Our rescued black cat tells us the stories all the time.
Thank you so much!! And Puck and I would agree 😀
This was just brilliant, our cat Bernard is a rescue cat (he was found foraging in a big catering bin/dumper for chips and kebabs) and had a pretty tough start in life, he is so loved and adored by me and my boyfriend even though he’s a bit windy.
One Halloween when I was a teenager, a stray cat who my mum had been feeding for a couple of days bought all it’s kittens round to our house, and made a home for them in our kitchen….we kept them all until the new year and then carefully re-homed 3 and kept 2 plus the mom….
This was awesome! But, sometimes they make it difficult to adopt from the shelters’ The shelter that I donate to wouldn’t allow me to have a cat because of my age.( same thing two other places) and, one place denied me because of a story I told her that I thought was cute.
I told her about the cat we had when we first got married that went everywhere with us even to drive in movies. She became really upset stating cats should not ride in cars except in a carrier. I assured her that things were different back then and, of course I would use a carrier.
She said she didn’t trust me. So I couldn’t have a cat. My daughter bought me a cat. And,I think that is sad because I saw many beautiful cats and, kittens I would have loved to adopt. As far as the age thing older people can give a lot of love to a cat and, the cat can really love to be in a home. I love my cat and, she loves us and, because she was purchassed no one cares what you do. Thats ashame also.
Yep, this one put tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Thank you for doing this one, Georgia.
If this doesnt get adoptions moving, nothing will, thank you so much, what a beautiful comic strip xxx
Thank you! I hope so much that it does! And if it does, I would love to hear about it!
Oh, Georgia. You are absolutely spot on! I love the poor kitty arriving at the shelter with his bindlestiff when his people turn him in, and the old fellow with his cane. All of the scenarios are perfectly and poignantly portrayed. I so hope that anyone wavering about whether to adopt a shelter cat will see this and decide to adopt. Thank you for sharing with us.
Thank you, Patricia!
psst: his ‘bindle’. A bindlestiff was a subclass of hobo who robbed other hobos of their belongings, very nasty.
–Dave
I lost it fairly early in. It’s quite hard to read when I’m crying and when my adopter (stray) Bengal mix,Ginger, is trying to comfort me. Her story is a feels on it’s own with its own feels back story.We were grieving over our senior adoptee Mama Kitty (she came with the house–the aforementioned back story). We had decided to wait to even start looking for a new blanket anchor. About 3 weeks later hubby comes home about noon. He was out building a fence for a customer with two big Malamutes. While he’s digging post holes he sees a little kitten come through the 4″squares in the horse fence. She started digging in the soft dirt from the holes. Hubby thinks she’s going to “use” the hole–to his surprise she darts out of the hole to more soft dirt where she dug another one. She did this for a bit and when he went to the truck he grabbed some dog cookies (construction workers friend) and broke them up.They were gone in a flash. He goes back to work and she ultimately sets up a “nest” in hubbys Carhart and goes to sleep. The homeowner says it’s not hers and she knows all the neighbors are dog owners. He brings her home and my intro to her is this tiny kitten with a broken tail who trots up our front walk and into the house like she was home! Hubby goes back to work leaving the tiny,farty kitten with me. She toured the house and ended up on our bed fairly quickly. When I laid on the bed near her she came over and gave me a obvious hug & our house became Ginger’s world. Hubby says he felt like she was saying THERE you are! I’ve been waiting for you. She is a very unique cat–having grown up with and had many cats–we have never met a kitteh like her. She like to play with the neighborhood kids, the Harley shop next door won’t start bikes if she’s over there (nothing quite like a leather clad biker with a little bit in his arms) and she’s been in EVERY neighbors house at some point. Hubby built a “race track” of shelving around the living room that has become her domain and allows her to get to “full speed” in our small house.We routinely wonder aloud about who would dump this little pure heart in the woods or if she’d had different owners that may very well have given her up because she is a “Constant Kitty”—Two Cat’s Meow toys in 2 years gave their all for the cause… Georgia,thank you for a wonderful strip that should span the Web and help bring all the kitties home. Many moons ago Purrfect Pals helped me find a new best friend waiting to come home with me. We had many good years before he answered the Bridge’s call.
Thank you. And thank you so much for sharing your “tail” (I couldn’t resist) about Ginger! What a very lucky kitty, and it is so wild how they seem to find us, isn’t it? I love your description of the shelving race track. We hope to set up something similar one day when we own a house again (vs the apartment we rent now) if only for Lupin. Ha!!
The track also serves as a “toy box” for her stuff. We can tell when she’s huffy–she slaps her toys to the floor.lol
This is awesome – so needed in our world of shelter cats.
This was beautiful and sad. I wish I could gather up all the old and/or black cats. I love senior cats the best – they are so chilled out and I admit, I love their independence. My parents/the family cat is black, although she has recently started turning orange which is very fun. She came to us from a friend of my mothers who was moving, and although she was mature when we got her we have been able to train her to use a cat flap and she is still very playful. Unfortunately I can’t populate my own home with kitties. I live in a flat and my landlord would never allow me to get a cat, and I’m away too much to really offer a good home to any kitty. 🙁 I am definitely going to look into some of the other things you mentioned – I used to donate food to a local rescue center and I don’t know why I stopped!
cried through most of the strip. is there a chance of a print sometime? I’d love to get one for my hard-working shelter.
what it’s the happy ending for the mom at and Siemens with the rough start? I don’t seem to find it
The Mom’s story is left unknown, but her kitten grows up to be the little homeless street cat. And the Siamese with the rough start ends up with a sweet blonde lady with a dog… Who is based on my Mom, hehehe.
I’m looking into options for prints right now! I hope I have some good news to share soon on that front.
*the momcat and kittens with the rough start?
This is beautiful. I’m going to hug two adopted kitties tonight.
I love Elvis – “You’ve got 5 minutes to get out of here or you’ll be wearing a Siamese on your face!”
Of the 9 cats my husband & I have had since we were married 3 were shelter cats, 2 were strays that adopted us, 1 was a stray my husband rescued from the streets & 1 was a kitten we took in for a friend whose new landlord wouldn’t allow pets! We are down to 3 cats at the moment as some have died and some have had to be rehomed but if my husband had his way (and we had the money & space) we would probably have a lot more! I hope people who are able to and who have considered the adjustments they will have to make can adopt a fur baby or can offer practical help to a local shelter. Our fur babies are a pain sometimes but we love them to bits & miss them terribly when they’re gone.
I’d had every intention of getting an older cat from the shelter when it came time to add to our little clowder, and then I got a call that someone found an abandoned kitten under the porch. Feral momma had picked up and left him behind. He was weak, covered in fleas, and needed round the clock bottlefeeding and all the care gross little babies need.
He’s now a year old, gorgeous blue point meezer, and gets along very well with our three older rescues who were gotten through the local shelter.
I cried. The elderly cat whose owner passed hit close to home. One of our two kitties is a fluffy black cat who was taken in as a stray by my in-laws. He outlived both of them and we took him in. He would never have made it at a shelter. He’s old (14 now), black, long-haired, and doesn’t have much, if any, vision in one eye due to an infection he had as a kitten before he showed up at my in-laws’ doorstep. Our calico (also a rescue – she picked us by sticking a paw out of her cage and mewing loudly at us) was not thrilled, but after 2 years she only hisses at him occasionally instead of constantly. 🙂
We also have a rescue dog, adopted the same time as our calico cat. Those two get along so well. We wouldn’t trade our shelter/rehomed pets for anything. I want to adopt them all, because every pet out there deserves love.
Wow, lump in my throat.
My three boys are all shelter cats. Two of them were older, brothers, and black/white. They’d been passed over repeatedly. Lost their original home after a divorce.
They’re the most wonderful things in my life right now, and have been for some time.
I cherish the last 6+ years with them.
Georgia, I don’t know if you realize you have a big following at Metafilter.com. There have been several front page posts about BCN. Here’s the latest, regarding this very comic: https://www.metafilter.com/153463/I-just-want-to-sit-in-your-lap-and-tell-you-stories-with-my-eyes.
This makes me incredibly happy. Thank you so much!! …The comments, oh my!!
So very true! A very sweet way of saying what so many people need to hear. None of our four legged pets have been shelter pets, but all but two cats have been rescues, usually of the “wander in to the yard and look pathetic” variety. (the two exceptions are a kitten born when mama’s new people didn’t get her to the vet soon enough and a classmate’s cat had kittens who needed a home) The stories I could share! …if I didn’t have feline assistance typing right now…:)
Adding a +1 to everyone who’s cheering Elvis leaping to Puck’s defense. Elvis may be a bit of a grump at times, but you DO NOT insult his brudders!
Well, this got me crying like a baby . . . wow, the illustrations are just so moving, not to mention the heartbreaking cuteness and witty rhetoric of Lupin, Puck, and Elvis. Brilliant work, Georgia! I cracked up at the panel with the dude that said, “I’m only too happy to feed and love you because I’m not a sociopath!” LOL Brilliant! I think if everyone had a cat in their life the world would be a much better place.
I very much agree!
Just wanted to say that I don’t have the space or time to have a cat (or any pets) as it’s just me in my apartment and I work full time, (Plus I suspect I’d be like the selfish ignorant person) but this has promted me to set up a monthly direct debit to the RSPCA.
Thank you, Charlotte!! That is awesome!!!
But you’re not like the selfish ignorant person, because you know you don’t have the time to properly devote to a cat or other pet. That’s being plenty responsible in itself!
Read this through for the n-th time. So wonderfully sad and the rewarding. Thank you, Georgia. Our elder cat, Sir aearl Grey, came to us pre-shelter and he is such a Good Boy.
You’re welcome, and thank you for liking it! Sir Earl Grey, oh, I love that name!
I’ve been a big BCN fan from the beginning, but with this strip, you have outdone yourself. AThank you!
Thank you, Bill! 🙂
Excellent and inspiring story, Thank you! I grew up with 5 cats, all on their second chances (one discarded kitten, one didn’t get along with the new baby, two elderly littermates whose elderly owner went to a nursing home, and one slightly handicapped shy girl). They were each treasures in their own ways and lived 15-20 years. Now my kids and I have adopted a shelter kitten and hope to add an older shelter cat next year. A few week after getting our kitten, my son said, “No offense, but before this cat our lives were just boring junk.” She has really brought fresh joy and new love into our home. And we are big fans of BCN!!! Every new report is something fun and cheerful to share.
Purrfect, marvellous! We got 3 sheltercats here, and one in socialisation for a shelter cos she can´t be there(she hates other cats) one whos home is been renoveted and one whos human is abroad on a worktrip.
Not crying, just got sometthing in my eyes
One of those cats looks like my cat, Berlios.😎😺😼😸😹😻😽😿😾🙀👨👧👴👵👩👨👷🐈🐱🏡👖👕💻 😀
The notification for this strip could not have come in a more timely fashion on Wednesday. We had to take our girl Annette to the vet for that last trip on Tuesday (she was 11 1/2). For her it was the end of a long fight. About 2 years ago she and her companion Samantha (both were shelter cats)were both diagnosed with Thyroid issues and kidney issues during their regular check ups and Annie was found to be deaf. In February of 2014 Sam lost her fight at the age of 14. Annie was a trooper and did very well until 3 weeks ago when we saw that things were changing. Result of that visit that her time was limited and we decide that as long as she wasn’t in pain to wait. We knew the time was here on Tuesday.
Your strip was what we needed! Thank you!
Today we took some extra supplies to the shelter and an 8 year old (who’s owner passed away) captured our heart. We will pick her up for good next week!
Bob, I am so sorry to hear of your cat Annie’s passing. I’m so glad that you found the 8 year old after their owner passed away–that puts a bit of a lump in my throat, but happily. I hope you all can find comfort together, and ease each other’s grief through many years of friendship!!
As a Kitten Foster, this hit me really hard in the feels. I just adopted off a litter of 5 who were found in a local flower pot. They were 12 days old when I first took them in. I miss them terribly, but I know that are happy in their new forever homes. I’m forwarding this comic to the local shelters and vets I work with. Thank you for helping to get the word out!
Much Love,
All Night Cats
Thank you so much!! And thank you for the work you do, that is wonderful. 🙂
Thank you – what a wonderful way to show the adoption process and make people aware – this also made me cry – I will definitely be adopting once I have moved into my new place – after losing my 2 fur babies within 6 months (both adopted) I cannot wait to love another fur baby (or 2) x
I wish I could adopt a cat, but that is impossible for me.
Unfortunately, I’m allergic to them, to the point where being in a house that has a cat for extended periods will make my eyes start to swell shut.
Try looking into the following breeds and see if you’re allergic: Siberian, Balinese, Bengal, Burmese, Colorpoint Shorthair, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, Javanese, Ocicat, Oriental Shorthair, Russian Blue, Siamese or Sphynx. The first two especially, as they produce less of the protein that most people are allergic to! There are breeders out there who breed especially to help people find a furry friend who won’t trigger their allergies. 🙂
This is why we had Siamese when I was growing up, my Mom could be around them easier. She also gets allergy shots, too though. I know those help very much as well.
Can not imagine living in this world without a cat! At one time, had a Maine Coon, a shorthaired tabby, who were rescues! Loved them for 17 and 13 years. Great fly, mosquito and spider catchers! ! ! Miss my babies.
This made me cry and laugh thank you for this great PSA! SHARING!
I love this one! We have a Ragdoll from the pound who is 23 1/2 years old. The arthritis is bugging her hips, so we are not going to get another cat until she leaves us. She picked my sister to adopt her and joined our 2 other cats, one girl we got from the humane society and the other a boy adopted us (his mother was pedaling kittens according to the vet). When the oldest died we got a 9 year old calico from the humane society. Then my boy passed at 17 followed by the calico at 16 last spring. We are considering another one but want to care for our elderly gal first. We’ve had 9 cats over the years and each one was a unique character and all are missed.
Wonderful story, except for the crying on my part, of course. 🙂 I have five cats, four of whom are solid black, all of whom are rescues or shelter cats. I’ve never understood the prejudice against black cats — they are gorgeous. Same thing for missing legs — the cat doesn’t care so why should the prospective owner?
Wonderful Georgia, you are an amazing person with a huge heart! I’ve never seen this many comments on your strip, I didn’t think I would ever get to the end. This may have been Elvis’ finest moment; still crying over Puck’s face and laughing proudly over Siamese on your face.
Hi Georgia, that was very touching. My eyes were all wet after reading it. It inspired me to create a piece of music titled “Shelter Cat Blues” (https://soundcloud.com/david-laprise/shelter-cat-blues). I would like to make a video for it but I have no recent video or animation experience so we’ll see.
Georgia, all the comments so far have taken the words right out of my mouth and mirror my own sentiments exactly. Make this into a poster and market it to shelters, veterinarians, and animal hospitals! I am printing it off and putting my copy up on my bedroom wall for our dog to see. It is moving, profound, bittersweet, and humorous all at the same time. “Bless the beasts and the children/For in this world they have no voice/They have no choice.” You have caught the spirit of cats everywhere.You are their patron saint. Not to mention a genius, and basically a Good Human. Thank you from my heart, over here in Asheville, North Carolina.
Thank you kindly, Brooks! 🙂
I had a black cat that me and my mom rescued from some college kids who fed him people food and he has special needs too like puck
Hi love your comics , I have 2 ginger color cats and one black cat like puck and he is good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wonderful and touching! Sniffle!
Dang it! No crying at work, no crying at work, no crying at work …
You really outdid yourself on this one. Love Elvis in protective mode and the “b/c I’m not a sociopath” line did make me laugh out loud!!!
All of ourcats have found us! They showed up at our house and we had to take them inside because we couldn’t just let them stay outside. They are the most loving cats.
Gaw! We picked up our Puck right from the street, no shelter needed. Her kitty mom abandoned her and she was trapped under broken wood. She was sick, hurt, runty and barley old enough to be weened! It really is troublesome to find custom medicine for an infected eye on a tiny kitten, but she’s happy and healthy (aside from being half-blind) now and we all love her. Also, that sociopath thing is gold – why else would someone take on a cat – or any pet, really – if they’re not even going to look after them? Animal cruelty is the first sign of a budding serial killer, ya jerks. >:(
Sometimes it may seem like all people want is kittens and they don’t think about all the other types of cats.YOU MADE ME CRY. thank your Georgia!!!!!!!!!
My girlfriend never had a cat before and wanted one. The shelter was too far to transport anything so I called my vet who occasionally had kittens in the vet window. I called them up.
“Do you have any kittens or cats up for adoption or know someone that does?”
“No…wait….” after a pause “We have a two year old cat here… but it only has one eye. It is fixed.”
“Let me call back but if we are interested could we bring our dog over today to see if they get along?”
“Sure”
So I call my girlfriend up.
“Sweetie…I don’t want to get your hopes up, but do you want a kitty?”
“KITTY! YES! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?!?”
I could have totally gotten stuff. It was christmas time however.
“Well the thing is it only has one eye,” I said “Do you still want to go see it or do you want to wait for a whole kitty?”
“A WHOLE KITTY!?!?! WHAT TYPE OF ANIMAL ARE YOU! I WANT TO SEE THE KITTY!”
So I call the vet back (who was open late that day) and we take our dog to see the cat. She loved it. The dog didn’t try to eat it (they ignore each other) and the cat kinda prefers me over her. Every once in a while my girlfriend looks at me (while the cat is laying on my chest usually) and mumbles “Do you want to wait for a whole kitty…I still can’t believe you said that.”
What a cute story! What is the Kitten’s name (i would have named it Tyson after the cyclops in Percy Jackson)
I’m a proud owner of three cats, all shelter, all felv+. I couldn’t agree more, Georgia.
Would you consider printing this as a poster/pair of posters? I think it’d be great to hang at a shelter, pet store adoption site, or vet’s office. The shelter where I volunteer has a site in a local mall, and it’d be great to have this explanation in the window when we’re not open.
I am currently looking into this! I hope to have a poster to offer for sale soon! Fingers crossed!
Adding a comment for my own little shelter cat. Only about 4 when I got her she had already been sent to the shelter twice. She doesn’t get along with other cats and pretty much only likes me. And I wouldn’t give her back for anything.
This is wonderful! Thank all of your news team for explaining so well why people should look for their feline (and canine) friends at a shelter. There is so much variety and so many kitties who just need friends and a home.
Reading the main comic, I actually never noticed that Puck only has three legs. XD;
At any rate, that’s very sweet of you. =) My family has already taken in a lot of cats and we can’t really take more. I do think I’d like to adopt at least once when I’m in a position to do so, and I am considering doing so with someone with special needs. Granted, it my case, I was thinking people, but it can also go with cats.
I mean, yes, I do think bringing your own children into the world can be a good thing, but there are also so many out there that might otherwise never have a chance to experience a real family. I can see where it would apply to cats, too. I do wish more people would be willing to give them a chance.
Superstitious people are often immune to reason or ridicule. What sometimes works, though, is to pass around another bit of superstition: there’s a folk belief that if you take a black cat into your home and treat it well, it will bring you GOOD luck.
I also heard about an animal shelter that named one of its black cats Jellybean, and the cat got adopted right away. Since then, they’ve named all of their black cats Jellybean. The cuteness of the name seems to override the spooky reputation.
Georgia you should write a book full of BCN strips!!!!!! I love BCN
I can’t see what I assume was a Breaking Cat News strip…..I get a black box with an X in it.
My current furbaby is an all black shelter find kitty….15# of pure love! Bijoux just LOVES people, especially the guy in the wheelchair next door. Champion snuggler too. 😀 I’ve never met an all black cat that wasn’t super smart, super sweet, and real cuddlebugs!
Same! Black kitties at excellent!
I am so sorry the comic is not appearing on your screen! I’m not sure why that would happen. 🙁
It’s a library computer with tons of filters on it. This time I could see the first few panels….then it went black all the way down to the comments. 🙁
I LOVE all kitties, but especially black ones. I’d love a kitty like Puck or Lupin.
After reading this special report I was ready to adopt as many cats as I can. Today me and my husband have brought a lady-cat to our apartment. Her owner (an old man) has died and she has been left alone in the street. She is so beautiful, fluffy and affectionate, ready to tell stories with her eyes. But we already have a teenage-boy-cat. It seems like they’ll have a hard work on the way to their understanding. I hope they’ll become friends.
I hope they do too, Irene. It makes me so happy that this inspired you to adopt a new kitty, thank you so, so much for telling me! She must be so happy and relieved to be off the streets and cared for! I wish everyone under your roof much luck and love adjusting to new family!
Man, this made me cry. I have a shelter cat, though we got him through our local PetSmart. They run a program that allows shelters to put their cats up for adoption through them. All proceeds go to the shelter.
When we got Snowball, it was on the heels of the death of my last cat. I could just feel she wanted to pass on caring for me (because she did that, so so much) to another cat. So we went without a word, and there he was. And we bonded instantly, and he came home with us. Since he’d spent most of his life in the shelters and a single room at a foster home, our house scared him. But he grew to love it, and now he’s a spoiled baby who chatters at us loudly.
His foster mother thanked us personally for adopting him since he’s a black cat. We didn’t even think twice. He’s such a sweetheart, and he’s always there when I have an anxiety attack or my depression spikes. I think Shelby, my late cat, chose her successor well.
Dang it, this still leaves me in a puddle two months later…
Hi everybody! I’m relatively new to the strip,having only recently discovered it on GoComics. Just found out about about the website too.The further along I went,the more teary I got thinking of all the sad cats around the world,but tears of happiness at the end.I pray all the shelter animals can experience the same joy. We have 8 cats now,at one time we had 15. All were either rescued or they came to us. The older cat’s story really got to me. I have an old friend,Mr.Blue,who is the last of our feline family from our previous home.I KNOW I’ll be a basket case for some time when he leaves us, so we let him have as much lap time as he wants as he tells us his stories with his eyes. I’d share Mr. Blue’s story of how he came to be with us but I’ve gone on too long already. Keep up the great work,Georgia!Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Can I buy a print of this? Can’t find it on GoComics.
I am traveling today, but I may be able to talk to GoComics when I get home and ask if they could add this one for sale for you!
Thank you. I’d really like to get this in a larger size for the lobby of my wife’s clinic when we collect items for the area shelters. Safe travels.
Hello! When I first read this comment, I had not realized it was on the Shelter Special, I’m sorry! I’ve looked into printing this one, but because of its size I have to look into some poster printing. I’m going to try and offer this as a poster on Society6 in the new year!
I would love to have this as a print for my wall! Is gocomics still selling it?
All of my furbabies were either street rescues or shelter finds…..usually the ones no one else wanted. They’ve always turned out to be the best one of the bunch. I have a big soft spot for black kitties too, haven’t met one yet that wasn’t super sweet, loveable, and smart. Our current black cat is Bijoux, and he certainly lives up to his name. He’s a jewel of a cat and very entertaining with his antics. The neighbors all love him, even the ones who claim not to like cats. 15 years old, 14# of pure lovebug. Whoever threw him away didn’t know what they had! Lucky for us though. 😀
Hello Lori! I am going to try and offer this one as a poster on Society6 in the new year!
Ooooo, I can hardly wait! It’s such a great one, I think every shelter and vets office should have one in their lobby. This however is for my hall for all to see.
This is a wonderful report, but it is about to become dated. I suggest a small change:
From: “And you must be a time traveler from the 1600s, because it’s 2015 and that’s ridiculous.”
To: “And you must be a time traveler from the 1600s, because it’s the 21st century and that’s ridiculous.”
(“2015” to “the 21st century”)
Last week I donated to the shelter. It was a cat scratcher that Berlioz doesn’t like and some cat food. (not the creamy dairy kind ;Berlioz LOVES that kind.)🐱
That is awesome, Edward!!! 😀 Good work!!
This is my second time reading this and I cried both times. The local SPCA needs help and this article helps me remember that. Yes my life is busy and sometimes I forget. All of our cats came into our yard and wanted into the house. With the first cat we tried to find the owner but not the others. I did look for flyers at the vet and SPCA. One of our’s is black. Such a sweet kitty! Thank you Georgia, for your good work at the shelter and for this article that helps people like me to help too.
Cute. I have an old cat and a black cat, and both are good, and the old has lots of lovey-dovey stuff to give. The black one can be grumpy, but is still lovable.
My oldest cat is my sweetest cat. He loves to be put on my chest and be rocked back and forth. He sleeps on my head and has since he was a kitten. The second one likes to be massaged but not held. The little black is still feisty. But I hope he will calm down with age.
This almost made me cry good job great job
A poster of this special report is finally for sale in the BCN Zazzle shop, here: http://www.zazzle.com/bcn_special_report_shelter_cats_poster-228260998497065901 The $5.24 royalty from each poster will be donated to Purrfect Pals in Arlington, Wa. That’s the shelter that saved Puck and Lupin in real life. They do good work!
Georgia! I just ordered the poster from Dazzle and can’t wait to get it.
NOTE: I wouldn’t have known it’s available if I hadn’t decided to read the Shelter Cats Special Report for the nthnthntht time and re-read all the comments. I wonder if there are others who don’t know. ofc, you may have announced the poster on your some accounts.
so thrilled to get the poster! it my favoritiest you’ve done so far.
Thank you!! I announced it on FB and Twitter, but I may need to do another round of letting folks know! I’m so glad you saw it!
Thanks for making this happen. The poster is on its way.
My mom just died. One of the issues that I had to deal with was her dog Lucy. I was thinking of this report. Lucy is about eleven years old. Older cat, older dog, I expect it is about the same. Fortunately, there were a number of people interested. My mom’s ex-landlady ended up bonding with Lucy, and so she has two dogs now.
I’m so sorry to hear of your Mom’s passing, Gene. I’m glad Lucy has a home, it can be so tough for older pets.
I am past most of my grief now. There were several days that were touch-and-go. Fortunately, one of my jobs took me to the Vancouver area, and I got some counselling at my church.
Fortunately, it was not difficult for Lucy. I understand that an ambulance worker and the police officer who responded to the call were both interested. Lucy is really a sweet dog, but I can understand that another pet, especially one who was behaving abnormally due to grief, might have a harder time.
Tommy lost his person, too. His owner Sissy passed away and had made arrangements for my good friend Jackie to adopt him. Pets definitely share our grief, it is wonderful when they can be taken in by folks who understand what they are going through.
And when we can too. I’m glad you were able to receive some guidance from your church. I wish you comfort and much sympathy and hopes for healing.
I loved the story that Georgia Dunn wrote and shared. For about a year, I volunteered at my local shelter, while I was out of work. I rose at 5am four days a week, with the help of others to feed the ENTIRE shelter of cats. I loved them all, and afterwards, I spent time socializing with them, “my goal” was to touch and hold every cat to make a difference. These cats saved my life and sanity and kept my spirits up. Way too many times, I heard “the stories” Georgia shared in her comic strip above, and the ~selfish reasons~ why cats were in shelters and continue to be so to this day. Her comic strip made me truly cry and touched my heart in many ways. Thank You.
At home, I found a stray now 10 years ago, and she is the love of my life, and makes me smile daily, and I am so grateful for her. To this day, I support no kill shelters and pray someday that there will be no more feral cats and no more homeless. Lets make it happen, soon !
Dear Georgia,
I’ve been loving Breaking Cat News for some time now, but I had never read the Special Report on Shelter Cats until today. I confess that it made me teary eyed. My last three cats were adopted, on the same day, from the Lowell Humane Society. So many of the cats in this particular strip remind me of my motley three: my older Mistress Mog, whose lady died leaving her to children who didn’t want her; my blue-eyed boy, Myster, who spent the first year of his time with us in the basement because he was so shy; and my little Lexie, the crazy calico kitten who just didn’t get along with her first owner. Sadly, only Lexie is still with me (she’s 11 now), but I know that Moggie and Myster had good lives, loved and cherished, by my family. Thank you for the gift of Breaking Cat News and sharing your boys and their friends with the world. ~ Victoria
I’m excited to let everyone know that the BCN Special Report Shelter Cats poster is now available for sale on TopatoCo!!! https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=GC-BCN-SHELTER&Category_Code=GC Any royalties I receive from this poster will still be donated to Purrfect Pals. 🙂
I adopted my cat from Purrfect Pals in WA as well! Such a great shelter!
That is awesome!
As someone who’s had a three-legged cat, a black cat, old cats, and several shelter cats (including one abandoned when the morons moved out of the apartment: he still hides when someone rings the doorbell, but comes to the door when he hears my car inn the drive!), I applaud this! (and sharing).
Black cats always make me think of Bagheera in the Jungle Books, and of Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon (who was partly inspired by a black cat!).
My cousin has a three legged cat. She can still climb trees.
Our special needs black cat from the shelter was brought to them as a kitten found on the side of the road after being hit. Fixed her broken leg but had to completely remove her tail, which causes neurologic damage. She had been there 5 years (her whole life) when we adopted her. She gets 3 meds twice a day to help her bladder and bowels work. She is the sweetest cat that wants to be with us and touching us all of the time, and yes we have always felt Charcoal looks just like Toothless! She is noww 11 years old.
Love this strip. both my cats are black cats and are rescue cats, though I am not sure they realize it. One last minute from a kill shelter, because I knew no one would adopt a black kitten with a chronic eye infection. (which cleared up within a month with treatment) and a tiny traumatized black kitten from a wal-mart parking lot full of fleas and worms. Once the parasites were removed he grew into a gentle black giant of a Cat. they both adore each other and snuggle with me and each other all the time. (and watch the birds at the bird feeders outside the windows) What wonderful animals from such dicey beginnings.
They should animate this and run it as a commercial. My wonderful shelter cat, the Magnificent Tweedledee has been the joy of my life. And I always tell everyone thinking of adopting a pet to check out the shelters first
There is a blind-cat shelter/refuge near here and Amazon.com partners with them so that every time we buy from Amazon, they donate to this shelter. If you shop at Amazon, check out smile@Amazon.com to see whether they donate to a shelter in your area.
I just saw this for the first time and I am in TEARS. Poor kitties!
I’ve read this a few times now and it makes me tear up every single time. A cat we had for years (A manx by the name of Skittles) was a Christmas cat. One Christmas morning he wandered through the back door and parked himself in my dad’s lap. We tried to figure out who he belonged to (he was clearly well fed and used to people) but no luck. Eventually we realized he had picked us as his family and that was that. He passed the day after Christmas, exactly ten years later, and he has been missed every since. I’ve been trying to find a shelter to volunteer at in my area, and this just gives me even more reason to do so. Thanks for an amazing comic!
Wow! The timing is incredible. He knew his family for sure! 🙂
Wonderful strip. My wife & I have rescued quite a few, mostly from the streets. We volunteer with our local Humane Society as fosters, and feed 3 homeless kitties, with 2 of them in the works to join our family. One of those is the mama to one we brought in last year- you’d never guess she’d lived her whole life on the streets, and the grandma to 2 others we brought in a year or so before that, when they were kittens.
that almost made me cry! I have three shelter cats, warren, nugget, and mishka! mishka turning 9 in three days1 I love them all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is awesome! I couldn’t agree more with everything – especially about black cats, special needs, and older cats! If anything, at least you know what to expect with older cats. Kittens are absolutely adorable, but they have yet to develop their adult personalities.
I’ll be sharing this around!
This is a brilliant piece, and had me crying along the way. Please continue to stay awesome, creating quality contents like this. Thank you so much !
I love how long this has been affecting people.
Our new rescue kitties come home with us on Sunday. One is black and maybe 15 months old and the other is 5-6 years old. They were actually rescued from a shelter that was basically a hoarding situation, so we’re looking forward to giving them attention and love.
This is the most beautiful comic strip i have ever read
Will whoever is slicing onions please stop?
I had to revisit this special. My Jingle Belle Katz who I adopted almost two years ago was a skinny little cat who ran after my husband and I on our morning walks about the apartment complex. This complex, Cottenwood Ranch (sometimes called CATtenwood Ranch) has a large population of ferals that the residents feed in an offhanded manner (Some obviously get adopted, because you see a lot of kitties sitting in windows looking out at the world). Jingle Belle had a jingle bell collar on (therefore her name) appeared to have been taken up by someone as a tiny kitten (she is VERY people oriented but dislikes other cats) but then apparently was turned out to fend for herself, maybe when her people moved out. So here we were, with this vocal little cat running up with a MEW, MEW, MEW (jingle, jingle, jingle) and rolling on the sidewalk purring like mad when we showed her a little affection. My hubby is indifferent to cats and didn’t really want one in the house but knew he’d lost THAT argument when I came home from the store with a litter box, litter, and cat food. When I brought Jingle into the house she demonstrated that she knew what a litter box was for and since then has shown little interest in going outside, joining the many cats sitting on windowsills and looking (a little smugly) at the big bad world outside where feral kitties have to fight for a living. Since being spayed, Her Rotundity Jingle Belle Katz has grown a bit plump, snuggles between us in bed and sucks on the blanket, frequently gets on the table or kitchen counters and has to be squirted (though sometimes if I point at the floor and say, “DOWN!” with sufficient gravitas, she gets down… if she’s in the mood.) She is still very vocal, walks up boldly to strangers entering our home (the cable guy, for example) and rubs against them to mark them as “hers”. Most visitors are VERY surprised at how friendly she is! A second cat, alas, is not in the cards. We tried to adopt a semi-feral young black and white Tom who came to be fed and who we managed to stuff in a carry box to visit the vet and be neutered) but she kept attacking him and he refused to stay in the apartment. He finally moved out for good and while we see Oreo around the complex now and then he is clearly not interested in being a kept kitty. At least we made sure he isn’t fathering any wild kittens. If I had the money I would be catching every feral male and female on the apartment property and doing the spay/neuter and release. It broke my heart as I was feeding some of the ferals when I saw a little kitten scrounging around the edge of the group (and being growled at by the adult cats.) The little thing was so wild that as soon as I made the tiniest move toward it, the kitten fled into the bushes and I never saw it again. To quote Baba Mouse, “Neuter and spay, folks!!”
Damn, I could barely read toward the end through the tears in my eyes. So true, and so movingly said.
I was a cat socializer for a year or two at our no-kill shelter (I said the cats socialized me, which was truer) until I got sick. But not before I took three of them home with me, bringing the grand total to five. One of those three turned out to be super special needs and had been taken back to the shelter by at least one adopter. Cricket has gone through all nine lives, and now lives with epilepsy and four different types of meds. And she’s just as bright and talkative as a cat can be, despite my forcing meds on her four times a day.
Thank you for the work you do on behalf of cats everywhere!
(and “You’ve got five seconds to walk out of here before you’re wearing a Siamese cat on your face!” Hell yeah!)
I had the joy of adopting an 11-year-old Maine Coon mix named Mufasa (he’d been given the name by the shelter, and I didn’t see any reason to change it) who’d spent most of his life on the streets (and had the mange and earmites to prove it!). He passed away recently and I miss his fuzzy face. I’m in the process of moving, and will be hitting the shelters just as soon as I’m settled. I’ve had black dogs, and they were wonderful; for the life of me, I can’t figure out why people avoid black fur-babies. Maybe a black cat — or two! — will be my next housemates.
Georgia, thank you for this amazing strip!
You’re welcome, Susan!! My condolences on the loss of Mufasa, I’m so sorry. I’m happy to hear you will be visiting a shelter soon, whomever you give a home to will be so grateful to join your life! <3
My wife and I have adopted 16 cats in the last 35 years. Most wandered in out of the woods, one was my Great Aunt’s companion cat, and one literally fell down our chimney! All have been loved, cared for, cherished, and when they passed, greatly missed. We now have four: two who moved down to South Carolina with us, and two adopted from the local shelter where my wife volunteers.
Our shy little rescue started chasing a balloon around our living room this week, we were overjoyed as she has never been a playful cat. She was 10 when we adopted her two years ago and we’d given up on toys but there’s some kitten left in there somewhere!
Always a warming feeling when you can give a rescue some of their life back =)
Must… Not… Cry…
Let’s add to the 256 comments with a little story. Smores is the runt of her littler. Her mother, who was a bit attached to us at the time, despite the fact that she was owned by our neighbors, had the kittens in our backyard. Thats where i found them, in the old garden mini greenhouse. We quickly told the owners and they were taken home out of the cold, it being April in cold Idaho.
My sisters checked on them a few times, but I didn’t think much of them. Eventually, the school year started back up. Smores, who was an outside cat like her mom, would come by all the bus stops, wanting to be pet or played with. I wasn’t going to admit it, but I became rather attached to her. I was more of a dog person at the time and was trying to figure out how I could get one, despite my allergic mom. At any rate, one weekend, it for really cold and I got worried about the little calico. I convinced my mom to let her in the house to warm up. Mom then told me that she wouldn’t mind having a cat, seeing as she liked them and had personally been wanting one herself. She told me that if they had found a cat that I got attached to, they would adopt it. A little while later, Smores was welcomed into the family! She became an inside cat and is loved by all. I hope you enjoyed this story. I am now going to go cry my eyes out at this sweet comic. Farewell!
Georgia, as a long-time fan and first time commentator on your real site, have you ever thought about making this specific comic into a door-window-sized decal for shelters or for pet stores who run adoption programs? I think it might really help! I don’t even have one, but I know I would buy a couple for stores within my areas that I like and the owners of which would be thrilled to advance this message. 🙂
Hello Todd, thank you! There is a poster version available here: https://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=GC-BCN-SHELTER&Category_Code=GC
Awesome! I hadn’t seen that, before! Thanks!
Just beautiful. And AMEN!
Both our big blue point Siamese and our little lilac-point domestic shorthair were found wandering as strays. The big male ended up with a fostering rescue, the little female was take to the SPCA after being found by some kind people in December and kept for a week while they advertised her on Kijiji.
Despite being four years apart in age and adopted a year apart, they get along better than any other pair of cats I’ve ever had. The little female, Sandy, is our tough little “West side girl” (the west side of town is the “wrong” side of the tracks) and proves it by frequently pouncing on Saxon and teasing him into play wrestling matches. Saxon is a big velcro cat who just lives to cuddle. He clearly had a good home at one time and may even be a purebred – I wonder what happened? They are an endless source of delight.
Of all the cats in your cartoon, I think Tommy reminds me the most of a cat I had – a big sweet long haired brown tabby named Merlin who came from a “free to good home” ad in the paper. He was part of our lives for nearly 19 years.
Hello Georgia! I love your comic, but I rarely comment. This one made me get a lump in my throat :(. I would adopt as many cats as I could feed, but my Dad is allergic to them and we have two pet birds. But when I’m older I’m going to get a few older and disabled cats, and try to make their new home as perfect as possible. I have been selling little quilted bags I made to raise money, and I donate all of it to our local shelter. Please keep the comics coming!
My name is Ron McCuen, a director for a no-kill cat shelter in Porter, TX. Your colum is great and I would like permission to reprint this to dislay at our adoption events.
Hello Ron! Absolutely! Please send me an email at breakingcatnews@gmail.com and I will try to get a copy to send you to display at your adoption events! (There is a copy of the poster here at Topatoco, too!) https://topatoco.com/products/gc-bcn-shelter
I read this again this week. It still shreds my heart.
My GF got a rescue cat late in 2012. Binkus (the name she brought with her) was 13, and had been bounced around for several years. Other than being rich in catitude (a Calico Persian mix), she turned out to be a sweet, loving kitty once she learned she was truly home.
She passed earlier this year.
Enter Lily…. A local shelter (Left-Over Pets, where we got Binkus) emailed about a homeless (and tailless) tuxie with FeLV. Since she was without a cat, GF took her. Lily is the sweetest, cuddliest, most loving kitten (she’s a year at the oldest) I have ever met. Shelter cats are wonderful.
Pushing two years and this still leaves me in a puddle.
They came from shelters, showed up at the door hungry & needing love, they were rescued from mean kids, given to us by people who should never have another pet — EVER –, and once, when I was flagging for a road construction crew, I sensed I was being watched when the nearest place was an abandoned farm, I saw a tiny kitten, hunkered down, staring at me in a tangle of weeds. He ate the roast beef from my sandwich, drank my ice water, and settled into the truck I used to move ahead of the paving crew. Mom named him Briscoe Darlin’ (she was watching an Andy Griffith rerun when she met the little guy), and he quickly became the Zenkitty. Nothing fazed him but the Vet & fireworks (show me a kitty who ISN’T). A big, beautiful, golden & white tabby who loved the world (except Vets). Mom & Dad have him in Heaven, along with all the other kitties & doggies who passed over the Rainbow Bridge. There is a bright & beautiful place for our little ones, and we’ll be together forever! Pets enrich us more than we can ever pay back! Bless you, Georgia & EVERYONE!
Though Briscoe Darlin’ wasn’t a shelter cat, the shelter saved his life. We lost him for over a month. Put notices in the paper, prayed, etc. About given up when we got a call from the local shelter. Someone had found a scrawny, limping cat with a huge gash under a foreleg & half a tail. Called the shelter, who sent someone to get him. Blessed be! Briscoe still had his tags! They called us & we whisked him to the Vet. Without tags, they would have put him down immediately in the shape he was in. Briscoe earned the nickname “Bottlebrush” from the look of his 1/2 tail when spooked. Quickly reverted to the Zenkitty persona with a very healthy respect for cars (we think he was under a hood & was injured when trying to get away while it was moving). Moral of story: ID YOUR PET! & KEEP THEM SAFE!
One last thing about poor little Briscoe Darlin’. We had huge cast iron radiators that he loved to sleep on. One day I saw him fast asleep on one when the temps were around 0 F. He head was down & his ears were folded over on the glass window above the radiator. I thought it looked funny until he woke up & looked at me; his folded ears were flopping like a bassett! They were frostbitten & he didn’t seem to know! Off to the Vet, who was just as bemused as we were. He said to leave them alone & slowly, over a couple of weeks, they straightened up! All the rest of his life, his ears were spotted with black speckles where they were frozen. He never cared, for him it was Zen all the way. A remarkable kitty!
This is an awesome comic, I loved it. Also the bit about black cats was great, one day in my future I want to be owned by a sweet little panther. Adopt don’t shop
Very sweet.
I need more tissues <3
I absolutely love this comic strip. It is the first thing I look for in the paper each day, something I never did for any other strip. Was so glad when Elvis turned out to be a good boy. Almost like the conversion of Scrooge. Hoping for a Christmas miracle for the cat at the window who saved Elvis to find his people.
Until now, I’ve had pedigreed cats, very sweet and pretty guys, but next time I’m going to have to rethink getting a shelter cat. Thanks Georgia!
Thank you so much!! I’m delighted you like it, and I can’t say enough good things about shelter cats! Puck and Lupin have been such terrific additions to our family. 🙂
Our cats are rescues but through rescue groups and not through shelters. honestly i don’t think i could handle visiting a shelter. we don’t have any no-kill shelters in this area so it breaks my heart that i can’t save them all. maybe you or Tommy’s owner have advice on how to visit a shelter and knowing you can’t adopt them all.
I love the characters you developed for these cats. i hope we get to meet a couple of them in comics. maybe the intruder can introduce Mr “I never had a home before” to her sister’s cats. thank you for your comics, they brighten my day and are so creative!
The 6/7th, 24th, 29th, and last panels, killed me. My family had a shelter cat named Spirit when I was a kid, and when he died, my mom couldn’t bear another cat. We also got a shelter pet, actually a dog, who no one wanted to adopt because he looked like a pit bull. Shelter pets deserve more than they get and need people like you and me to advocate for them.
Ok–honestly weeping uncontrollably because this is so spot-on and also so touching. I just adopted an outdoor kitten from a feral colony at work, and she is precious and crazy and my 13 year old male tabby is having trouble adjusting (but being a good boy all the same). This made me want to go adopt five more (which I can’t do), but the reasons in this report are exactly why I donate to rescues and shelters and hope to start volunteering for some soon. Thanks for this Georgia–I will be sharing it with everyone!
We have had this Special Report hanging up at Forget Me Not Animal Shelter in Republic WA for a few years now… but it is ragged and we MUST find a new one to order. Can anyone point me in the right direction to order a new one?
Best. THING (not just comic, THING). Ever.
Hello Kim, Topatoco carries this poster in their online shop for us! https://topatoco.com/products/gc-bcn-shelter Thank you so much for liking this Special Report!
Love your work. Have 4 rescue kitties. Long story but only one is from a shelter. One is named Roafkill—because he almost was. Just saying Thank you. Heidi
I knew this was going to make me cry…it did, but I’m glad it exists, and I’m glad I read it! My family has always had shelter, rescue, and foster cats. My mom has two older (17 and 18) lady cats who are with us for life (once upon a time we bottle-fed the 17-year-old, and sheltered the 18-year-old when she was a frazzled “teen mom” with five kittens) and this year she adopted twin Siamese boys who’d been adopted once and returned because that family’s dogs didn’t like them. Not their fault: they’re sweet but SO active!
My Maine Coon mix Diesel was abandoned as an adult and he found me! Today he’s a happy, healthy, flea- and tangle-free, intelligent, playful lap cat who follows me from room to room constantly. Total Velcro cat. And my Raven is a black cat – HISS! at the superstitions! (Related: You can’t imagine how loud I cheered for fierce Elvis defending Puck; I melted and cried happy tears.) Raven was born feral but befriended Diesel and me. He’s still a one-human boy, but – like Puck! – he’s a sweetie who happily spends hours on his perch watching the birds out the window, or cramming himself into cardboard boxes and chewing them apart. Both safely indoor cats now.
And sometimes the shelters get cats HOME! Last year I found a malnourished, hyperthermic little black and white cat hiding by my apartment; super-sweet, but skin and bones, and she wouldn’t eat or drink. I brought her inside (Diesel was very courteous) and stayed up with her, syringe-feeding her on kitten milk. Took her to the shelter to get her proper medical help…and she was microchipped! She’d walked 20 miles, across multiple highways, in the 100+-degree heat of a Texas July! Shelter called her family and Speckles got to go home. I still think about her.
By some purrfect timing, I just got a fundraising email from my city’s (10 years no-kill!) animal shelter so I will be recalculating my monthly budget, and looking into pet-focused disaster relief. My local shelters took in hundreds of lost and shelter pets last year when Harvey hit. They (and their fellows on the East Coast now) are HEROES.
Very recent BCN reader, but wondering how I got by without it. Thank you Ms. Georgia! You and your art and your family, whether they have four legs or three or two, are a light in the world – a very bright jar of Christmas lights indeed!
Thank you, Katie!! And wow, I am so happy Speckles got home!
When this first became available as a poster I bought one to frame for my local animal shelter. It still hangs just outside the “cat room” where every one that enters gets to read it and it helps them decide what kind of kitty they would like to adopt. I had volunteered at the shelter when I retired and wound up with a total of six adoptees, thankfully, my wife, now deceased, was a real cat person who suffered badly from rheumatoid arthritis and had one particular cat that provided her with love and comfort. Now my babies keep me company both day and night and I could never knowingly be without a cat. Since this particular story has led to many adoptions, I would suggest that at least once a year this should be rerun to keep shelters in the “news”, especially around the holiday season.
Joseph, I love that idea, thank you for suggesting it!
What a great plug for adopting a shelter cat! Our daughter adopted two cats while she was living in the Bar Harbor area after graduating from College of the Atlantic. One that was seriously ill eventually disappeared but his brother hung in there and ended up with us back home when our daughter went to graduate school. He took over the house and our hearts. A 15 pound tabby Manx with a stubby tail. I am guessing from Georgia’s life history and artistic talents that she attended RISD, where our daughter now works.
Thank you, William! I wish, but I’m sorry to say they rejected my application when I applied to them many years ago. I’ll always have some “what ifs,” but I feel that it all worked out in the end.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
My baby is a rescue, and I can’t imagine life without her. She is not a multi-cat-home cat, though, so she is my only baby. Between my mom and my sister, however, the family has another 5 rescues currently, and several others in the past. 😀
First time reader, long time listener to my co-worker’s tales of Breaking Cat News, and now a fan! “Literally everyone in your life requires food and water and has emotional needs” – so true. Thank you for this.
Cheers! So nice! Really effective, this should be shared everywhere! we love or rescues, they love us soooo much thier live seem to extend unnaturally so. Love it! Can’t wait to add more.
The Feels™
My Heart™
Thank You Georgia, I cried and my friend asked if I was okay so I showed them this and now we’re both crying.
This Cat Loves the Newborn Baby So Much That It Will Melt Your Heart http://www.dailyamericanbuzz.com/2019/04/this-cat-loves-newborn-baby-so-much.html
I have gotten four cats, one from a rescue organization and three from Animal Control. I have had all of them, one at a time. Tipper, we had to take back, he was very young, to rambunctious and kept clawing my Hubby, who is Diabetic and on blood thinners. Then we got Mollie, a true Tuxedo Rumpie Manx that had been declawed. She was an older cat and naturally fantastic. She past away, in my arms. Then, we got Kitty Kitty at an Animal Control, she was an older declawed cat, too. She an awesome cat but hated all other cats. She also, past away at home. Now, we have Pepper, a young cat but is merely wonderful with everyone she meets. We got Pepper at an Animal Shelter, too. I love and have loved all of the cats. I do prefer to get older declawed cats. Please, I would never declaw a cat, but I like having indoor cats and declawed cats to need to be a full house cat.