Many many years ago when PAWS was on Clark Street, I adopted a five year old male cat (Gabriel was his name in the shelter). He was small, had bad teeth, had clearly been abused as he cowered in the corner when he was let out with the other cats and people. PAWS had rescued him on the day he was to be euthanized by another shelter. Despite everything, the minute I saw him, I felt an instant connection. For ten years, through a lot of my health crises, Lindy was my constant companion. He always knew which part of my body was hurting and tried his best to comfort me by sitting on or lying next to the area. After much love and affection, he even got over some of his fears and even let other people pick him up and stoke his beautiful fur. As his life ebbed and he developed several health problems, I felt very sad but did not want him to be in pain and made the difficult decision to put him down. 

Several times since then I came to PAWS looking for another cat. But I never really felt that connection with another animal. On April 22 of this year I came back determined to look at a cat I had seen on the website and determined not to get a kitten. Despite that, I looked at several cats and then went into the kitten room. My friend noticed a small grey kitten and lifted her up to me. Smokey kissed my face, purred and promptly fell asleep in my arms. Another connection was made.   

Smokey came home to me very thin and with a very drippy eye. She had a bad case of herpesviral conjunctivitis which spread to both eyes and a very nasty stubborn parasite. But many ointments, doses of antibiotics and appetite supplements and some 5 weeks later, Smokey was on the mend.
She is now almost 7 pounds and loves to scamper through her cat tunnels and chase toy mice around the apartment. She lounges on her cat condo to watch out the window and gather the last rays of the sun at the end of the day.

She is a ball of energy, a handful and a delight. I already cannot not imagine my life without her.

Thanks PAWS for all you do and matching people to their perfect pet.

Deborah