The last time we checked in with Lady Gray 5 years ago, she had recovered from the trauma of trying to survive outside and found a most perfect family with her catmoms and BFF Ziggy.
Sadly, they lost Ziggy last spring to old age. They watched closely for a couple of months, but Lady Gray showed them how much she missed Ziggy with overgrooming, vocalizing, diarrhea and even seizures.
They wondered if they could ever find another cat who was as cuddly for her as Ziggy, but as loving for them too.
As fate would have it, we had just taken in another big orange fellow named Remy from a fellow rescue. They called him a frozen cat and we soon found out why.
Remy was severely shut down, tucked as far back or up as he could go. He had likely been placed in no-win situations his whole life, frightened over and over again, with no place to run.
But Remy was also a cat’s cat, making friends easily with other cats. Once he decided to trust you, he was also very loving, offering purrs and asking for belly rubs. We thought he just might be the one.
Melissa and her daughter AnnMelissa came to meet him. We had to offer a ladder to reach him on the catwalk, but within 15 minutes, it seemed he had given his heart away.
The next challenge was getting this scared cat home. He had claimed a big basket atop a condo in the Lobby. We used our best Fear Free techniques, bundling him basket and all into a crate. Still, it was very scary for him.
But they had set up his Safe Room very well, with a new cat tree of his very own to give him a hiding spot.
“For me?” he seemed to ask as he slowly appeared. By evening, he was rolling around on the floor for them, showing how ready he was to love again.
Lady Gray was very excited to have a new friend! Still, she was a little nervous so they took their time introducing him to make sure she knew she was still loved too. They set up a fabric screen to let them get used to each others’ scents and sights before they actually came together.
Remy became Zumbo, which fit his silly side, rolling around so much in his cat tree he melts right out, jumps back up and starts again. They have abundant toys, which he hoards. He believes whoever has the most toys, wins!
Within 2 weeks, they were touching noses and Lady Gray was seeking him out. He believed the sun rose and set with her. A month later, they were sleeping entwined every night, waking their people with their purrs.
Melissa says, “They enjoy running crazy kitty laps around the house. If one of them meows, the other is right there to see what’s going on.” Lady Gray no longer has seizures and is back to her old self.
Zumbo is trusting more each day, and loving learning how to be a lap cat.
As Melissa says, “He just wants to belong, be wanted, liked and loved.”
Don’t we all!
