Once upon a time, a medium-haired Maine Coon mix named Ziggy was searching for his forever home. He had initially been adopted months ago from a Petco, but later showed up at the back door of a volunteer with The Cat Network, a cat rescue group that’s been helping stray and abandoned cats find their forever homes since 1991. The volunteer and other Cat Network staffers were able to trace his microchip information, but the contact info turned out to be bogus.
So Ziggy came under the care of The Cat Network, which found him a great home. Unfortunately, when the family welcomed a new member after adopting Ziggy, allergies and asthma prevented them from keeping the cat. Ziggy returned to The Cat Network six months after being adopted.
Over in Olivette, Allison Brose and her 4-year-old, Lydia, were out running errands and stopped into Bentley’s Pet Stuff to pick up a few Christmas presents for the cat of Brose’s sister and brother-in-law. Upon entering the shop, Lydia fell in love with a huge orange cat that was up for adoption.
“He reminded me a lot of the cat we used to have before my kids were born, Charlie,” Brose recalls. “He was a huge gray Maine Coon and was so sweet.”
While the Broses hadn’t been talking about getting a pet anytime soon, Brose felt in her gut she should inquire about the cat in Bentley’s. She contacted The Cat Network and soon heard back from the group’s secretary, Kristi Hill. Unfortunately, the Bentley’s cat was in the process of being adopted. But the timing ended up being just right because Ziggy had just come back to The Cat Network, and Hill asked if Brose would be interested in meeting him instead.
“I showed the pictures to my husband and kids, and they were all so excited,” Brose says. “We made plans to go meet Kristi and Ziggy at Petco. She stayed there with us for an hour while the kids got acclimated to him.”
Ziggy was only without a home for 23 hours. The Broses adopted him just before Christmas and welcomed the cat into their home for the holidays.
In the few weeks since his adoption, Ziggy has settled into his new home with ease. Brose calls him a “gentle giant” and says having Ziggy is almost like having a dog because he loves to be around people and inserts himself into whatever happens to be going on around the house. Brose says he’s extremely tolerant of his new younger housemates, who are 8, 6 and 4 years old.
“They’re so gentle with him, and he’s always trying to be around them,” Brose says.
Ziggy’s current hobbies include jumping onto and off countertops, playing in the shower, watching squirrels and hanging out in the bathroom and kitchen sinks. Brose says it feels like he’s been a part of the family for much longer than just a few weeks and loves that he’s so social.
“I just feel like he was meant to be,” she says. “I wasn’t searching for a pet, but this fell into place.”
This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.
Robyn Elizabeth Dexter 