“While this isn’t my first kitty, it’s one of the most meaningful additions to my life,” admits Jamie. “I adopted a sweet little gray cat named King Kong from Furry Friends at the end of September last year. I later changed his name to Graby: it felt more like him. He came at a time when my heart was still healing from the loss of my beloved cat, Goyangi, who had passed away earlier that year, leaving me devastated.

“We have adopted two kitties from Furry Friends,” Sierra says. 
“We adopted River (formerly Anthony) in July of 2023 because we had just moved into a new home and had wanted to get our daughter a kitten for quite some time. We already had one cat, Little Kitty, whom we had adopted sight unseen in 2020. And although she turned out to be a beautiful and loving middle-aged cat, she didn’t fulfill our daughter’s hopes of having her own baby kitten.

“I lost my comfort animal, Aussie, early in November,” Annie explains. “He had suffered from several complicated medical issues the last few years, and we had to say goodbye at a time when I needed him most. Soon after, a fluffy boy at Furry Friends caught my eye. He looked a lot like Aussie, only larger, with blue eyes instead of orange. Since I volunteer at Furry Friends, I brought my husband and sister in to meet him.

“My husband Kent and I, as well as both of our grown sons, have been lifelong cat lovers,” Lori says. “In 2016, we adopted a rescue from a friend who was the ‘cat love of our lives.’ We named him Griffey because our second love is baseball. We later adopted Jeter from Kent’s cousin, and Griffey and Jeter became fast friends. Sadly, Griffey had an underlying heart issue that went undetected, and we lost him to a saddle thrombosis in March of 2023. While Kent and I grieved for Griffey, Jeter grieved more. He lost his purr, wouldn’t eat or play and went into a deep depression. We weren’t ready for a new kitty but Jeter was.

“Furry Friends helped my partner Mark and I save a seriously injured pregnant momma cat we named Sabrina,” explains Gail.

 “We not only fostered her, we were overjoyed and awed to actually assist in the birth of her six beautiful babies! We both knew, from the moment we rescued her, that we wanted Sabrina for our own. After several successful surgeries due to her significant injuries and months of healing, she’s finally ours.

“Since we were his foster family and he came from a litter of “C” names, we named him and kept it: Oreo with a “C,” and certainly as sweet. My kiddos and I fell in love with him on the same day. First, my oldest said that she loved him and wanted to keep him, and then my second one said the same thing. I already loved him because he would stare at me intensely with his big blue eyes. I joked that we could keep him on the condition that his eyes didn’t change color. (I knew they would since he was so small). On adoption day, every kitten was pre-adopted except for Choreo. We took it as a sign that he was ours, and we couldn’t have been more delighted!

“Our 18-year-old cat Stardust passed away the month before we adopted Gnochi and Mr. Meowgi,” explains Autumn.  

“My husband Caleb and I changed Ziti’s name to Gnocchi because he’s a chunky potato dumpling, and Dewy to Mr. Meowgi because I’d said I wanted to name my next cat that. Just as with our Stardust, we wanted the cat(s) to pick us. These two loved our attention, and that’s also something we wanted. They adjusted to living with us fairly quickly. I had taken the following two days off to be with them, and so they seemed right at home -- especially when Gnocchi stole a whole chicken nugget from my husband!

When asked what made her choose this particular kitty, Christina laughed and said, “Because Taz is a spaz taz!”

“We were thrilled that Taz’s adjustment to living in our home was immediate. Not only has he brought so much happiness to our children, he’s a wonderful companion for our dog, and they are truly the best of friends. 

“We adopted Oliver because we were looking for a Tuxedo,” explains Kaili. “He was just so cute, and the description of his temperament sounded as though he would fit in perfectly with our family.

“Once we met Ruby at the shelter, we saw that she was a Maine Coon mix, a breed of cat we’ve had before and love,” exclaims an elated Marcie. “She was so beautiful and SO affectionate that we didn’t need to look any further.

“Although this is my second cat, it’s the first time I’ve adopted a senior,” Tonya says. “And while his original name was Joe, I now call him Joe Black.

“I chose him because at the shelter he was friendly and not at all shy. His quirky little tail, due to an injury earlier in his life, was constantly wagging in obvious friendliness. He ‘spoke’ to me with little meows, and hearing them, I knew that he would be coming home with me.

“We had lost our senior cat earlier that month, and my husband was desperate to get a cat back in the house,” Raina says. “We had originally come to the shelter to meet a pair of bonded kittens, but I wanted my husband to meet Zeppy, because I just had a feeling. Although Zeppelin was clearly overwhelmed, he came over to us, climbed onto my husband’s shoulder and refused to get off! Then and there, he became our toothless wonder, and to this day, my husband remains his best friend.  

“When I adopted this sweet, saucy kitty, I renamed her Princess Honeycomb,” says Caleigh.

“My best friend, Caitlin, volunteers at Furry Friends. After losing my beloved one-year-old cat Loki, my seven-year-old cat Moon needed a sibling. Caitlin sent me a photo and we both knew instantly that she was the one. Her adjustment to living here was immediate. In fact, she walked around as if she owned the place!een at the shelter for six months.

“We adopted Zinnia, who was formerly called Clover, because we wanted an affectionate cat,” says Kelly. “At the time she was still in her affectionate phase.

“Newton is the latest kitty to enter my life,” says Michelle. “I was drawn to his picture on the Furry Friends website and felt badly that he had been at the shelter for six months.

“We had an outdoor cat named Callie who passed away a few years ago,” Anna says. “Lucky, whose original name was Sully, is our first indoor kitty.

“Imagine this! My mom rescued a poor wet kitten from the middle of a busy road. We gave him to a friend who fosters with Furry Friends to care for, and when he was ready, we adopted him. Not only was he a very ‘lucky’ kitty to have been rescued, we’re very ‘lucky’ to have him in our lives.

“Freyja, formerly Bubbles, is my partner’s and my second kitty,” says Kestrel.

“When I saw Freyja’s photos on the Furry Friends website and read about her personality, I felt in my gut that she was the kitty for us! We did an in-person meeting at the shelter to see if she liked us. It took her a few minutes to become accustomed to having us in the room, but after that, she was giving us head boops and cuddles. It was instant love!

“We wanted a female Calico breed,” Kalil says. “We also fell in love with Spice’s adorable face and soft fur.

“We adopted her about a month before moving from our apartment into a house, and Spice, along with our two other cats, Leo and Pickles, had to gradually adjust to living in our – and their -- new home.

“We have two older cats from other non-profits in the area: Winston from the Oregon Humane Society (the oldest) and Ellie from Meow Village,” explains Cristin. “And although his name was originally Garfield, after trying out various names, we settled happily on Marlow.

“Lucy’s original name was Delorean,” says Megan. “We changed it to Lucille but we call her Lucy. Sometimes we call her ‘Scoops’ because she’s so easy to scoop up in your arms. And ‘Rumble Duchess’ because she has a mighty purr.