102-year-woman falls for shelter cat and adopts him...

[maddiemom]

41. My late mom's nursing home had a resident cat AND a resident dog.

The dog was a fairly large one, but they were buddies. Both roamed freely around, and, as long as the doors were open, in and out of the rooms. Although my mom had been an animal lover (horses, and even sheep, as well as dogs and cats) all her life, most of the residents who hadn't lived with animals still became very attached. It was beautiful to see the joy these animals brought to so many. On a related note, when I last adopted, I asked which cat had been there longest (the shelter housed several old and decrepit cats, which they weren't offering for adoption unless the potential owner just wanted to ease the last years (very few did, of course). That was eight years ago and, "Maddie" is still a wonderful and loving pet and surrogate mom to other pets. I realized later that she'd become a favorite to many of the workers ( a "no kill" situation, of course) who were sort of "hiding" her from potential new owners.