Photo: Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society
A bond between a little girl and her cat is changing lives for hundreds of animals.
Earlier this year, Caitlin shared the touching story of how her daughter, Ivy, found a best friend in the family’s adopted kitten, Sergeant Pepper.
“To fully understand how much Sergeant Pepper has positively impacted our family, you’ll need to have a little background about us first. When we were 20 weeks pregnant with our first child, we found out that she would be born with a cleft lip and possibly a cleft palate, too. At first, it was a scary and alienating situation to find ourselves in,” Caitlin wrote inher adoption story entry for Petco Love’s Love Stories campaign.
The mother added that her worries faded as “she became more educated and prepared” to welcome her daughter into the world.
“Fast forward to this past January, Ivy, our almost 18-month-old little girl, had been through the successful lip and palate repair surgeries. She was also obsessed with anything and everything cat-related, making meowing noises at any cat (real or not) that she saw,” Caitlin shared.
In response to their daughter’s fascination with felines, Caitlin and her husband thought about adopting a playful kitten to join the kind adult cat they already had at home.
“Upon meeting virtually with Pepper’s foster mom, we discovered that he and Ivy had very similar background stories as snuggly, bottle-fed, food-sneezing babies who had successful palate repair surgeries. It just felt like fate,” she added.
After learning more about Sergeant Pepper, Caitlin and her family decided to bring him home. Since moving in, the kitten and Ivy have become incredibly close, sharing many of the same hobbies: playing with wand toys, climbing on furniture, causing mischief, and snuggling.
While Caitlin feels that Ivy is still too young to realize her beloved pet’s differences, she hopes that as her daughter grows older and learns more about her cleft lip and palate, the bond between her and Sergeant Pepper will only deepen.
“I know Ivy is still too young to understand now that she was born differently, and I will always teach and encourage her to embrace her differences. However, I know it will be important for her someday to know she is not alone. Pepper has reassured us that Ivy never needs to feel alone in her journey,” Caitlin wrote.
Caitlin’s kind words about Sergeant Pepper and the amazing effect he has had on Ivy’s life won a Love Stories award throughPetco Love.
Each year the nonprofit Petco Love organizes theLove Stories campaign. This national campaign invites the parents of rescue pets to submit stories about how their furry friends have changed their lives and nominate the animal rescue organization that made the connection possible for a grant.
This year, Petco Love and campaign partner,BOBS from Skechers, selected 100 of their favorite stories from the many entered for this year’s campaign as winners. To celebrate these wins, Petco Love hosted events across Petco centers nationwide, where the nonprofit gave the nominated pet adoption organizations grant awards of up to $100,000, and the adopters who submitted the winning stories a Petco shopping spree and a BOBS from Skechers prize pack to spoil their beloved pets.
Caitlin’s story of Ivy and Sergeant Pepper’s special bond earned a grant for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, which will help other pets find their perfect people.
source: people.com
