It’s always heartbreaking when pet owners surrender their animals to shelters. It should only be a last resort for people who truly can’t take care of their pet anymore.
But sometimes pets are abandoned for completely arbitrary reasons. It’s always hard to believe people could abandon their own pets for being too good or overly affectionate.
That was the sad story for one cat, who was carelessly abandoned twice before finding a family who could appreciate him.
Jacque the cat had a rough start from the beginning. He ended up in a shelter when he was just 6 months old, after he was left behind in a foreclosed house.
The kitten ended up in the shelter—and when no one wanted him, he ended up on the euthanasia list.
Luckily, he was discovered by Nancy Hutchinson, the founder and president of the Michigan Cat Rescue, and she saw his potential.
“I saw him in his cage and felt so bad for him,” Hutchinson told The Dodo. “I opened up his cage and … sat on the floor with him for a while and he sat on my lap. I thought, ‘Wow. What a nice cat.’”
She took him in to the rescue, and soon he was able to find a family… but his sad story continued.
The woman who adopted him apparently got sick of Jacque’s displays of affection: “He constantly wants to sit in my lap,” she said, according to a post by the rescue.
“I can’t stand it, it’s very annoying, he isn’t welcome at my house anymore.”
And so a year after thinking he had found his forever home, this poor cat ended up right back where he started… all just for being too loving.
It’s a ridiculous reason for surrendering your pet, made even worse by the fact that Jacque was specifically advertised as a “lap cat.”
“It is what she signed up for because she requested a lap cat specifically,” Nancy told The Dodo. “But she just became tired of having him.”
This latest rejection took a big toll on the poor cat, now three years old. He stopped eating and the stress made him ill.
But he wasn’t giving up. Once he was nursed back to health, the rescue put out a post sharing his heartbreaking story. The internet responded with shock, and the post was shared over 3,000 times.
Applications came pouring in, but most weren’t a right fit—it was important to get this right after so many false starts.
Luckily, they found the perfect match: a woman named Liz Myziuk and her husband applied, and it everyone could see it was meant to be.
“We met Liz and her husband at one of our veterinary hospitals, and we put them in a room together,” Nancy said. “I let him out of the carrier, and he walked around a little bit.”
They hit it off—and most importantly, this couple didn’t mind at all Jacque sitting on their laps.
“Then they picked him up and put him in their laps and he just stayed there. They were crying and so happy — they were so in love with him.”
Crying tears of joy, the couple adopted the cat, and he finally found his home.
They renamed him Giuseppe, and they’ve been happy together ever since.
“They absolutely love him,” Nancy said. “He’s doing really well. It’s just really great.”
We’re so glad this poor cat finally got the happy ending he deserves! Share this inspiring story!
