On a rainy afternoon in December of 2023, Murphy came in to our lives. We’ve all heard the saying “Everything happens for a reason”, well Colby was the happen, Murphy was the reason. Just two weeks before bringing Murphy home from the local animal shelter, we tragically lost our 10 year old Snowshoe, Colby, to a drug reaction following a dental. To say we were devastated would have been an understatement. Through tears, an unknown force pushed me to look up the local animal shelter adoptable cats. There was Murphy, or “Newt” as he was called by the shelter staff, and his big blue eyes. I guess you could say it was the Eye(s) of Newt that got me, because his little face haunted us. It had only been days. How could we even consider moving on?
We headed to the shelter, blue carrier in hand, to see this cat named Newt. We found him in a community cat room almost immediately. When we asked to see him the shelter worker hesitated and told us that you could not touch him. I literally thought she was kidding. This sweet boy was only nine months old and had been at the shelter since July. He was terrified. It was in that moment I suspected that the unknown force pushing me to this cat was Colby, because Murphy needed us as much as we needed him. It took me and three shelter workers to catch him. The ride home was quiet and filled with anxiety for all of us.
It only took a month in our master bath for him to learn to trust. While he was in there he began, with his Mama’s help, writing Murphy “Tails”. I’ll let him tell you some of his story in his own words from his Gotcha Day “Tail” –
“Last year, on this very day, I got my fur-ever home. I didn’t think that day would ever come. I waited and waited and waited, but since I was so scared, even Mama and Daddy weren’t sure I’d ever be happy. But guess what? Mama helped the shelter people catch me and they put me in that blue box that I’ve told Y’all about before…that was really scary… I mean really scary….. and we went home. I didn’t know what a home was, but before I knew it, I was in the baffroom with a soft bed and toys and food and a night light. I still love my night light. My baffroom was warm and safe and most of all, it was quiet. I had time to think in the quiet. The shelter was so busy and so noisy. I like quiet. Quiet means soft words and soft light and nervous runs and hides from quiet. After a while nervous ran away and didn’t come back.”
Fast forward to now and he is the best boy. He still doesn’t like to play “pick up Murphy”, but that’s OK. We’ve got all the time in the world! Murphy shares home with two other rescue cats and has blended in to the family like he has been here his whole life. He still has moments when sudden movements or loud noises puts that look of fear on his face, but it fades quickly because he knows he’s safe. Whether we saved him or he saved us, matters not. Just watching him totally at ease and totally happy would make anyone’s heart smile. We love him to pieces!
Submitted by Renee FC