You're 16, You're Beautiful And You're Mine!

Thanks for stopping by!!

In honor of my 15th Gotcha Day, and approximately my 16th birthday, I'm throwing a little last minute shindig at #cokiepawty on tweetgrid.com on Sunday Mar. 14 from 9am to 11am PST.

Please come by and say hello, and meet some of my friends and family!

I know we're all tapped out, but if you can spare a dollar or two, I'm also raising money for the Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter. This is where my mom found me 15 years ago... (There's a widget on the right.)

Her other kitty Lump had recently passed away at 19 years old, and mom desperately wanted to find a cat who needed her and with whom she could feel a real connection.

She went to many shelters and rescues but there at the Burbank Shelter, she walked down the row of cages until she heard me meeooowwww at her. You can hear me meow too, if you press PLAY on the cartoon cat on the right margin of this blog! Just turn off the music player above first!

 Anyway, mom walked to my cage and I reached out and touched her nose with my giant furry hobbit paw and left it there. She couldn't take it. My pale blue eyes and my big furry paw on her nose and the sweet way I asked her to please please please take me home with her... I had her!

She asked about me and they said I wasn't available for another week, and a lot of people were interested! (They also told her I was a girl! - I was gorgeous but all boy! LOL. I guess I was so furry they couldn't tell I was a male!)

She asked if she could reserve me. They said no, that she'd just have to come very early the day I was available. So she brought HIM back to meet me the next day. HE liked me too, but I didn't touch his nose. They both spent an anxious week waiting to see if they were going to get to adopt me. They'd named me Annie. Haha...

On the big day, mom took the morning off from work and showed up two hours before the shelter opened. There were other people there but none of them were waiting for a cat! They opened the doors and mom ran back - but I was gone! My cage was empty! Her heart sank. She slowly walked up front and asked if I was still there. They said all the cats were up front - but I wasn't.

As she was about to leave she walked around the entire facility and saw a nice guy cleaning cages. She asked him if he remembered the beautiful longhair flamepoint blue eyed girl cat who talked a lot. He did and said I was in a different area, something was wrong with my cage and they'd just stuck me in the back!

And there I was!! All alone in a small room of empty cages and I jumped and yelped and meowed and purred when I saw my mom! She ran up front and said she found me and she wanted me! We were both so excited!

 She couldn't take me home though cause they had to send me to be spayed first. They said she could pick me up from the vet the next day. A few hours later she got a page from the vet's office. "Oh no... " she thought. "Something must be wrong. Leukemia, something else... why is the vet calling me already!?"

The vet asked her - "How set were you on adopting a female cat?" Huh? "Because your Annie is a boy and he's already been neutered so you're due a refund." WT?? Mom didn't care - she just wanted me! But she couldn't pick me up till the next day because I'd already been sedated and SHAVED! Can you believe that!?

Anyway, it all turned out wonderfully and we've been together ever since. Me, mom, HIM, and later a real girl cat, Wynnie.

That was 15 years ago today in 1996, and we all love each other very, very much. Even HIM.

So anyway, if you're still reading this...  I'm raising money for the Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter. Please consider a donation - even $1 - to this good shelter. We'll all be forever grateful that the shelter took me in and made it possible for me and my mom to find each other.

It's a very nice City shelter, run by nice people and wonderful volunteers, but it is a City shelter and they do have to euthanize pets that aren't eventually adopted or rescued. My donation page is here.

Donations help the Volunteers pay for foster homes, socializing and kitten rescues, go a LONG way in getting shelter pets forever homes, and help support a good City shelter in a time when budgets are being cut everywhere.

Thank you from my ♡. 

Cokie the Cat   

=^..^=

But you can call me Annie. 

LOL.

 PS: This isn't really me w/the cake but it looks just like me, OK? LOL!