Maeve and Emily Norton: Furry Friends Fur-Ever
“I grew up with cats and adopted my first cat on my own after graduating from college,” Emily says.
“I met Maeve (formerly called Surprise) at the shelter. My mom volunteers there weekly and I tagged along when I was home for Thanksgiving. My kitty had passed away the month before and I needed a kitty fix! After helping to clean several rooms, I was asked by one of the other volunteers if I wanted to meet a new arrival. Of course, I said yes.
“Maeve, who was awaiting her medical exam, instantly stole my heart. She came in with multiple ticks and a bad back leg, which later had to be amputated because someone had shot it with a pellet gun! Despite her poor shape and in spite of how cruel people had been to her, she was so sweet and loving to everyone around her. All she wanted was love, and she began purring and headbutting us as soon as we said ‘hi.’
“I returned to Boise still thinking about her, and asked my mom weekly for updates – selfishly hoping she hadn’t been adopted yet. When I came back at Christmas, I learned that Maeve’s foster family had dropped her off at the shelter for the day. I not only said ‘hi’ again, I promptly adopted her!
“Ironically, I was adamant about adopting a senior kitty and had no intentions of adopting such a young cat, but when you know, you know! She is such a lover girl despite the abuse she endured. She’s adjusted gradually, and has gained more and more confidence navigating life with three legs. The large open space of my living room frightened her at first, but now it’s her favorite spot in the house. She spends every morning there basking in the sun and every evening zooming around chasing toys.
“Maeve makes me laugh every day! She is so silly. An absolute chatterbox, she loves ‘talking’ and being petted non-stop, and starts purring as soon as I say ‘hi.’ Since I work from home, it’s fun to have a ‘velcro’ cat to keep me company. She’s so friendly towards everyone who comes over and steals their hearts with her headbutts.
“Everything is a toy to this girl! She loves laser pointers, shoelaces, dryer balls, tissue paper, and of course, my yarn and knitting needles. She also loves watching Cat TV on YouTube -- with birds and farm animals being her favorites.
“She sleeps in my bed every night, and in the mornings she’ll let me know it’s breakfast time by sitting on my pillow, purring and headbutting me until I get up.”
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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.
