Benny was an abused young street cat, with a hind leg broken in multiple places, when he was found by a young woman with no money and no place to keep a cat. She took him to a local vet hospital, and people pitched in. A nearby real estate office put out a “Benny box” for donations for his surgery, and a rescue group found him a foster home. After a year, though, his foster home gave up on him. At adoption events, Benny always froze in the back of his cage, trembling, and finally he was deemed “unadoptable.” When I saw an SOS on a rescue listserv, I had two elderly cats and no intention of disturbing them with a newcomer, but my heart broke.
When his original rescuer brought him over, Benny was wrapped in a towel and shaking in fear. He spent a week tunneled into a rolled-up rug, only coming out at night. Slowly, slowly, I gained his trust. Skittish but sweet, he never raised a paw or showed a claw. When my older cats passed away and I took in a litter of foster kittens, he tended to them and groomed them like a mom. Benny finally had a family.
I kept two of Benny's adored little sisters, who still snuggle with him. Benny jumps into bed with me (and them), rolls over for belly rubs and passes sunny afternoons in my tiny walled garden. He still hides from strangers and wets himself on the way to the vet, but he is otherwise a happy guy who makes my household happy. Nobody is unadoptable.
Philadelphia, PA
