
When my husband and I first got married, I had quite the menagerie of cats (five), while my husband had never had pets—so it was a transition for him. One of my cats was a stereotypical sassy cat that my husband was very leery of, and rightfully so! Flash forward several years, when most of the cats had passed on and we were down to one who was very vocal about being lonely, we decided we were ready to add another companion to our home. Animal Aid staff member Julie helped me decide on the best fit for our household, which turned out to be Puff, a senior black cat with a big personality.
I loved him immediately. Higgins, our cat, quickly followed suit. My husband was determined not to get attached.
That lasted about two weeks. Puff quickly bonded with Charles, as I worked away from home and my husband was retired. Together, they would watch sports on television, and Puff would answer back when Charles would ask him if he’d seen that goal.
Puff also liked his food and especially liked to eat on a schedule: Dare we not adhere to Puff’s schedule, he would jump up on Charles’s lap and demand his attention by placing a paw on his chest and squeaking at him. Puff couldn’t meow like a normal cat due to damaged vocal cords, so here was this big black cat who would just squeak and grunt at you and carry on quite a conversation. Charles would laugh and get up and feed him just like he wanted.
Puff was diagnosed with diabetes about 5 months after he came to live with us. I am rather queasy when it comes to all things blood, so Charles was the one that would do the glucose curves to help manage Puff’s condition. As it turned out, Charles was also diagnosed with diabetes around the same time, so they went on a diet together. Charles controlled his diabetes through the diet—Puff not so much, even though he did lose weight.
About a year ago, Puff went into a steep decline when his kidneys began to fail. We knew our time with him was drawing to an end, but Puff rallied at least three times from the brink. And each time, he’d get more attached to Charles. They were inseparable at the end.
We miss all the squeaks and grunts from our little man, and I will be forever grateful to Puff for helping Charles discover the love of a companion animal.


On behalf of all of us at Animal Aid and rescue animals everywhere, thank you for your support!