Cat back with family after years away
Published: September 9, 2005
When Sophie came to the Franklin County Humane Society, no one had any idea that over a period of nearly two years she would turn out to tell a tale fit for a family movie.
Mean and prone to hissing and scratching, she was the older cat who was frequently overlooked by potential adopters, but perhaps she knew somehow, somewhere out there, someone was looking just for her.
According to Stacie Steinman, Executive Director of Franklin County Humane Society (FCHS), Sophie the cat was dropped off by a man claiming to be the only owner Sophie had ever known. “He said he unfortunately was moving,” said Steinman.
And that’s when Sophie’s life nearly ended. “She was almost euthanized,” he said. “She was angry and hurt and prone to hissing. We couldn’t let her out of her kennel much because she was so mean.” But Steinman had faith in Sophie, who was about 11 years old and bore puncture wounds in her back that appeared to be the marks of a dog bite.
“I was her true champion, I guess,” Steinman said of her insistence that Sophie’s behavioral problems were somehow related to her health. “It turns out she had degenerative disk disease in her back and rheumatoid arthritis. It’s no wonder she was angry after spending all that time in a kennel.”
So FCHS put Sophie on an aspirin regiment, and after a short while “she pretty much took over the shelter. She had her own room with a couch and a window… We had a special bond, I guess. Sometimes she would just sit on my lap in the chair and cuddle and purr. But she always let you know when she was done with you,” Steinman said with a laugh.
The true miracle was yet to come though. About 14 months after Sophie was surrendered to FCHS, outreach coordinator Rusty Posneur was at the Hannaford supermarket in Enosburg when a family approached her about a dog sticker she had on her car. During the conversation, Posneur let the family know about an American Staffordshire Terrier that was available for adoption at the shelter, and the family agreed to come in and meet Little Dude.
When the Grassetts came to meet Little Dude, their daughter happened to catch a glimpse of Sophie, and her mother Ann mentioned that she looked just like a cat they had lost a few years back. Oddly enough, the Grasset’s cat was named Sophie as well. “They were chatting about her for a bit, and it came up that a gentleman from St. Albans had brought her in,” explained Steinman. “[The Grassetts] said his name at the exact time that they [FCHS staff] read it off the sheet,” said Steinman.
“When we let them in to see her, she crawled up on the little girl’s lap and was just purring and licking the little girls hand. I wasn’t there, but they said it was really heartwarming,” explained Steinman of the confusing reunion.
Apparently the man who dropped Sophie off (whom Steinman declined to name, saying only that “the story gets somewhat cruel and unusual, so I can’t say too much”) had not been her only owner, as he claimed. After a complicated divorce, the man and his wife had left Sophie to his neighbors, the Grassetts, who kept her for a number of months and still have a kitten from her litter. But after a few months passed, Sophie went missing one day and the Grassetts later found out that the man had taken her back without any warning.
The man kept Sophie for another 13 months, then surrendered her to FCHS. “Why he would bring her here after 13 months instead of bringing her back to a family that loved her, I don’t know,” said Steinman of the confusing circumstances. “She sat here for 18 months, and she was nearly euthanized.”
But Sophie must have known that someone out there was looking for her because as soon as the Grassetts stepped into her room, she dropped the mean kitty act. “Whenever anyone came in, she would scratch and hiss, but she just crawled right in their laps and purred and was licking. It was like that movie (‘An American Tail’), like she was sitting by her window, singing ‘Somewhere out there.’”
Sophie is now back home with the Grassetts, where she settled right in and even ran directly to her old food bowl and basket in the laundry room, where she used to sleep. Safely reunited after a number of years, Sophie now has her human family and feline daughter back in her life for good.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
If you like this, you'll love Good Animal News:
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: