An elderly rescue cat has enjoyed an emotional reunion with the family that was once forced to give him up for adoption.
Older cats face an uphill battle to be adopted compared with their younger feline counterparts. A study conducted by Priceonomics using data garnered from the pet adoption website Petfinder found that around 82 percent of all kittens listed end up being adopted. However, just 60 percent of cats aged 1.5 years and older end up finding a new forever home.
Felix the 13-year-old kitty is one of the lucky ones though. She ended up in the care of Golden Oldies Cat Rescue in Monterey, California, a shelter designed for cats aged 6 years and older living in the region and in need of a home.
That was where she caught the eye of Denise Whitlock from Soledad, and her 10-year-old granddaughter, Sienna. Whitlock has always been a keen advocate of the mantra "don't shop adopt." She and her husband, Robby, currently have two 15-year-old senior cats, Lucy and Chloe. They've welcomed as many as 10 rescue cats into their home over the years.
Sienna had grown up with a cat but, due to her infant brother Liam's health issues, he had to be surrendered. Whitlock was determined to adopt a kitten for Sienna to play with whenever she visited.
But fate had other ideas. Scrolling through a list of cats available for adoption on Petfinder, Sienna stopped Whitlock in her tracks. Among the list of feline profiles on screen was a familiar face. It was her old cat. It was Felix.
It made no sense. They had been searching for kittens yet her now 13-year-old cat had come up. It felt like destiny.
Felix had been adopted from Golden Oldies Cat Rescue by a senior citizen living near Pacific Grove. But it turned out they could no longer care for him and he was returned to Golden Oldies, just in time to be rediscovered by Whitlock and her granddaughter.
Whitlock told Newsweek that upon seeing her old pet on the screen Sienna's eyes filled with tears and she said, simply: "I want my Felix back."
Her grandmother was only too happy to oblige and soon Felix was back among the people he once called family, enjoying naps on Robby's lap and happy meows aplenty with the rest of the clan.
"We're glad that Felix will live his golden years with us and have a fresh, happy new beginning, he'll be with family," Whitlock said. "We want Sienna to understand the life process of our pets' lives as she has experienced a few that have crossed the rainbow bridge."
Sienna might had wanted a kitten but Whitlock ultimately felt the existing senior cats in her home would have trouble getting used to a kitten anyway and Felix would transition into this cat household easier.
Even better still, Sienna's brother Liam would now be able to interact with Felix when he visited, as his cat allergies had decreased significantly in the years since they were originally living alongside each other.
Margaret Slaby, executive Director of Golden Oldies Cat Rescue, said that Felix's story is what Golden Oldies is all about offering "second, third, and even fourth chances for cats."
"We are so glad that we were able to give Felix his happily-ever-after again," she said. "We make a lifetime commitment to our cats. They will either be adopted or live out their lives in loving foster homes. And if they are adopted and ever need to come back to us, they do, just like Felix did."
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