Cosmo and Jasper and the Hackwiths: Furry Friends Fur-Ever

“My husband, Levi, and I adopted Cosmo (nee Fireball) and Jasper (nee Hawk) last year, a few months apart,” Amanda says.

“When I began fostering for Furry Friends, my first foster was a young black cat named Fireball who arrived with torn up front claws and a suspicious attitude. No sooner had he settled into our home than I learned that my ailing dad was nearing the end of his life. I flew across the country to be with him, reassured by Levi that he and Fireball would ‘manage.’ But when I returned two weeks later, they’d more than ‘managed,’ they’d bonded. Foster fail!

“Renamed Cosmo, he quickly claimed his place here. Friendly and well mannered, he established relationships with our dog and one resident cat, while sadly being shunned by the other, older one. He seemed so glum that we knew he needed a feline friend who would truly accept him.

“Several months later, we stopped by a Furry Friends event at PetSmart, and found one kitten from a beautiful part-Siamese litter whose siblings had all been adopted the day before. He was sweet, snuggled close to the female cat in the kennel with him, and had the prettiest fur and blue eyes. After socializing with him, we adopted him and renamed him Jasper, which often ends up shortened to Jas-purrpurr!

“Despite being initially skittish, Jasper’s eyes lit up as soon as we allowed Cosmo in for a supervised meeting. He made a beeline for Cosmo, who accepted him immediately, became his ‘big brother,’ and they’ve been inseparable ever since. For the first few months, Jasper would follow Cosmo everywhere and Cosmo would ‘supervise’ his interactions with the other animals. They sleep cuddled in the same bed, eat together at dinner and check on each other constantly.

“While Jasper loves a good pet, it takes some ‘scritches’ to get his engine going -- although his first love is Cosmo. At least he allows himself to cuddle with me once a day and nap on my lap. Cosmo’s much the same and usually does his own thing until it’s cuddle time. He’s very curious, though, and will appear out of nowhere if I’m doing something new.

“Cosmo makes this little ‘derp’ face when he’s truly relaxed: tongue peeping out and eyes shut. Jasper is the chillest kitten and has claimed a big basket of throw blankets as his personal napping place. He’s also obsessed with a fur-like blanket I have, sprawling on it and ‘nursing’ for awhile when I have it on my lap.

“At night, Jasper and Cosmo sleep snuggled up together in one of their various perches around the living room, but they’ll both be in our bedroom at five AM sharp, ‘howling’ for breakfast!”

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Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.