Happy Tail: Grandpa Abe
Ask ACR volunteer Katherine to marshal a few adjectives to sum up the personality of Grandpa Abe, her fabulously named sweet senior tabby and “foster fail,” and she doesn’t hesitate.
“He’s a lap cat for sure. Affectionate, kind of lazy — in fairness, he is an old man of 13 or so — and food motivated although less so now that I have successfully spoiled him rotten,” she laughs. “He knows he will be eating all the time, lots of small meals throughout the day.
“All he wants from life is naps and cuddles and tasty food.”
That’s surely the mantra of any contented cat who, like Grandpa Abe, successfully transitioned from the street to indoor life where the day’s chief worry isn’t finding adequate food and shelter but simply locating the sunbeam on the living room floor at precisely the right time.
Like many cats in ACR’s care, Grandpa Abe’s backstory is a mystery. But as Katherine recalls, he was found outdoors by another ACR volunteer circa 2020 in poor health, with a serious eye infection and some other issues.
“He was immediately affectionate and clearly could be an indoor cat. ACR needed a foster to care for him while medical stuff was being done and that’s where I came in.”
Though a lifelong cat lover, Katherine had minimal experience with medical fosters. Yet Grandpa Abe made it relatively easy, especially compared to the “full-on feral” Katherine had tended previously but that was eventually placed with someone better suited to her needs.
“I don’t know if he had been abandoned or was a street cat who hadn’t had a ton of bad experiences. Maybe being sick made him prone to being happy inside and comfortable,” she adds. When Katherine and her husband bought a house outside of ACR’s catchment area in Richmond Hill, “The choice was either to give him to another foster or keep him. But we had already bonded.”
They made in official in mid-2021. “Humans are responsible for the domestication of a lot of animals, and I feel we have a responsibility to them that continues. So, when cats are in the street, we should care for them where we can. I would always rather adopt from a rescue because they need homes. If my household can match the animal’s needs, why would I go shopping elsewhere?”
Katherine hopes to expand her fur family, perhaps adding another cat or dog into the mix. “My husband didn’t come from a pet family, so I am slowly chipping away at his resolve,” she chuckles.
“My advice to prospective fosters and adopters is this: don’t be intimidated. Grandpa Abe has FIV, and a heart murmur and I think people get really intimidated when they think about animals having long-term health conditions. But it doesn’t affect Grandpa’s day-to-day life at all. He is happy as a clam.”
-Kim Hughes