This Forlorn Cat Found his Forever Family Thanks to a Tweet
Some cats find their forever home at a cat café and others are taken in by kind-hearted people who find them outside. But one lucky cat found his home when his Petfinder listing went viral from a tweet.
The listing featured a large, 5-year-old grey striped cat named Fishtopher who was described as, “very sad and depressed” and “out of sorts” at the shelter, reported Insider.
Twitter user @MollyClarke shared a screenshot of the listing that received over 168,000 likes and over 21,000 reposts on Thanksgiving. Many people tweeted responses that encouraged people to adopt Fishtopher and often included photos of their own rescue cats.
Homeward Bound
The listing was from the Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in Blackwood, New Jersey put up the listing because Fishtopher was so timid and downcast that he wouldn’t even look up for photos. The staff knew they had to do something because he really needed a home, reported NBC News.
The shelter staff told NBC that after the listing was shared on twitter, they received hundreds of inquiries about adopting Fishtopher. One of those people who saw it was Laura Folts, 22, from Baltimore Maryland.
Folts told Insider that she and her boyfriend Tanner Callahan, 24, had talked about adopting a pet. She didn’t know that he had already seen the tweet and applied to adopt the cat. He heard back from the shelter and the couple drove two hours to arrive at Homeward Bound before it opened at 10 am.
“I think a lot of people came in wanting to see him. And of the group of the first 10 people that were there at open, about eight or nine of them were there to see Fishtopher. And so, they all got to pet him,” Folts said. “But we were the lucky ones to take him home.”
After Fishtopher was adopted, Insider reported, the shelter posted on their Facebook page, “Fishtopher has left The Building!” And indeed, he did.
A happy ending
After a drive home that included a stop at the local pet store for cat food, Fishtopher settled into his new home with his human family. The couple said that he has created a few hideouts for himself but that he has adjusted well.
Folts has documented the now happy cat’s new life on her own Twitter page and she has created social media accounts in his name. Both his Twitter and Instagram accounts have more than 13,000 followers. “It’s been really heartwarming how a lot of people are like, ‘You could tell how much happier he is,’’” she said.
While not everyone who came to the rescue center was able to take the couch potato cat home, the shelter told The Huffington Post that seven other cats were adopted that day, Batman, Catwoman, Olive Oil, Eggplant, Lobster, DiGiorno, and Dingus.
If you were inspired by this happy ending tale of Fishtopher, the sad cat, you can go to a local shelter or animal rescue and take home a fur baby of your own.
