Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: February 1, 2023 by Crystal Uys
Every cat has a story of how she came to be with her human, and even though there are common themes – a cat finds us, we are ready to adopt a new family member, we see a cat online that tugs at our heart strings – every one of those stories is as unique as the cat and the human involved.
Sometimes, it takes more than one person to rescue a cat. In Gracie’s case, it took the proverbial village. Her story is remarkable for its “six degrees of separation” synchronicity, involving this site, Jackson Galaxy, and our friends Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair and Dorian Wagner of Your Daily Cute.
Conscious Cat Reader Birgit saw a post about one of Robin’s foster cats on Jackson Galaxy’s Facebook page. That led her to Robin’s blog. This was right around the time when Robin’s kitten Fred had contracted FIP. (Editor’s note: Robin’s post “Dear Fred” won the 2013 Pettie for Best Blog Post.) Fred’s story, and the way that Robin dedicated herself to helping Fred and all the other cats, really touched Birgit’s heart.
A few days later, Birgit won a giveaway for a $50 shopping spree with MyThreeCats.com here on The Conscious Cat. Instead of spending the money for her own cats, she donated it to Robin’s rescue, Kitten Associates. Afterwards, Birgit and Robin continued to communicate through Facebook and email.
Birgit wasn’t really looking to adopt another cat. She already has four (three indoor and one outdoor feral cat). Two of the indoor cats do not get along, and even though Birgit is constantly working on this issue, it always leaves one of her cats, Mojo, on his own. That’s when Birgit’s husband suggested they get another cat for Mojo to keep him company.
Birgit decide to call Robin to see about adopting Barney, Fred’s brother. Barney was about a year old at that time. Mojo is an alpha cat, so she, or rather, Mojo, was very specific about the requirements for a companion. The new cat had to be younger cat, very laid back, easygoing and easy to adapt. Barney would have been a match, but Robin lives in Connecticut and Birgit in Florida. Even though Robin will sometimes adopt out of state, she felt that it was too far.
So Robin put Birgit in touch with Dorian Wagner, who is connected with Good Karma Pet Rescue in South Florida. They had a cat named Fiona who sounded like she might be a good fit. A date for a transport from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Jacksonville, FL was set up.
Just when Brigit thought everything was all setted, a neighbor told her that his feral cat had three kittens, and he was not interested in feeding them and threatened to have them removed. Birgit took the kittens into her home with the intent of finding a foster mother – but this meant that she couldn’t take Fiona right away. A week later, Birgit found a foster home for the kittens. Everything was falling into place and Fiona could now come home.
“When Fiona arrived it was like she knew this was home,” said Birgit. “I felt like she was meant to be it was for numerous reasons. It took me a while to commit to another cat, then when I did commit to adopting Fiona, I was saddled with three kittens. I thought then that Fiona was not meant to be, but I was wrong. The kittens found a foster home which made way for Fiona.”
Birgit changed Fiona’s name to Gracie. She did not seem to respond to “Fiona,” and Birgit’s sister-in-law has a Jack Russell named Fiona, so every time Birgit called Fiona, she had a vision of the dog. She named Gracie for her good friend Grace, who says Brigit “has a great personality, happy, easy going, full of life with spunk.” The new name suits Gracie purr-frectly, and she is already responding to it.
A cat guardian dedicated to saving lives, Jackson Galaxy, and three cat blogging friends – cat rescue stories don’t get any better than this one.
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
I often wonder what we all did before social media!! great save, great story
I know what you mean. I certainly can’t imagine a world without all of these wonderful connections anymore!
What a wonderful story.
It sure is nice to hear a happy ending!
Fabulous story, Ingrid! Thanks for sharing it. As another example of It Take A Village, on my daily powerwalks around the neighborhood, I spied two cats on a porch day after day. I left a message under a food bowl asking if the cats needed a home, since I have a couple connections with rescue groups. A phone call later, and confirmation that the cat’s owner was thrown out of the rental house and left the cats behind, and neighbor’s were feeding them. I called every rescue in town, plus more that I emailed. Then one day, while walking again, I stopped at the ‘cat house’ and another neighbor walked up. We started talking, then another neighbor walked up. Before you knew it, there were eight humans surrounding two beautiful, friendly black cats. When another neighbor saw us, he stopped to hear what all the commotion was about, and he went back inside and called a friend…who agreed to take the cats! The two boys are living a good life now, in a home instead of on a porch, and it was just the power of the community that did it. Hurray, and when we think we can’t do anything, then we can’t. If we put out effort, sometimes it comes back in ways we’ve never dreamed of! And I love the name Gracie…
Great story, Vickster – thank you for sharing, and thank you for what you did for those two cats!
You just never know how a connection will be made. That’s why I share every adoptable or lost kitty that comes across my page. You never know how a connection will be made but the more people that share the more kitties will find happy homes.