Lucky Girl - Katie

The SF SPCA runs a popular and well regarded summer camp for children. Kids learn about animal care and behavior, interact with the cats and dogs at the shelter, and do some more traditional “craft activities” like making photo frames for the condos. (When I think of camp, I think of leaky boats and pup tents at lakes, roasting marshmallows and so on – but this is the big city. Camp is just another term for out of the house, and this camp is competitive and costly.)

It’s good for everyone involved. The kids are energetic, motivated, and really do learn a lot. The rest of the adults can’t help but have some of this enthusiasm rub off on us. And the animals benefit from both the company and getting used to being around young people.

My first summer at the shelter, I became acquainted with one of the campers and her mom.

Actually, it began with Katie the cat. Katie was a large long haired, somewhat cantankerous calico. She was 13 years old, and her age along with her haughtiness made her hard to place. I liked her immediately though – I liked her attitude and thought she was very smart. She made good eye contact with me. There was something about her.

Chloe the camper fell for her as well. She was a sweet, smart, city kid. Naturally, she made a case to her mom to adopt Katie. But they already had a cat, and the mom wasn’t ready to make this commitment (and face the potential loss not too far in the future, she confided). However, Mom made a deal with Chloe: they would continue to check in on the cat until she was adopted by someone else.

Chloe created a lovely portrait of Katie to hang on her condo door, expounding on her good qualities. They did indeed visit regularly, which is how I met them and heard the story. It was interesting to see how Katie treated us differently too – with me alone, she was basically a big purring lap cat. With the girl, she became more playful.

Weeks passed and summer turned into fall. But one morning I arrived and found that Katie had been adopted a couple days earlier. I hurried to the front counter to make sure they could let Chloe know. “You’re the second person to say that,” I was told. “We’ve got the number, we’ll be sure to call. Who is Chloe, her former owner?”

Nope, just a kid. And one lucky kitty’s champion.