In Jan. 2006, I decided to adopt another cat after my first cat, Sidney, had to be put down after I had her for 20 years. Putting her to sleep was absolutely devastating for me. After that, I didn't think I'd ever want another cat again. But after 4-5 months, I began to realize that there was something missing; that's when I realized that I wanted another cat. So one day I went to the Paws & Claws Humane Society's website and there he was: Josh, a.k.a. Joshy. He was jet black with big yellow eyes. I was already in love with him & I hadn't even met him yet. I just knew he was the one for me. The caption under his picture said that you needed to make an appointment to see him because he was...well...kind of shy. I made my appointment the very next day, hoping that he hadn't been adopted yet. To my surprise, he hadn't. Josh was a stray that had been seen roaming around outside the shelter day after day, so some of the volunteers caught him & brought him inside the shelter. I guess they weren't having much luck with Josh because he was very scared & had been hissing at potential adopters. The volunteer showed me where he was & decided to let me approach him while no one else was in the room. I walked over to him & held out my hand for him to sniff; he must have thought that I was "ok" because I started scratching his ears & before I knew it, he was purring. When the volunteer poked her head back in & seen that we were getting along just fine, she knew Joshy had just found his new forever home.

Melissa Cornell
Rochester, MN