Nikki the stray kitten was brought to the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley, in Hailey, ID on March 6, 2018. Her soon to be “BFF” Marmalade was transferred in from another local shelter shortly after.
Nikki’s start at life had begun a bit dramatically, with a high school student spotting her from the highway.
He stopped, chased her up a snowbank, and was able to catch her! The shelter knew that if a teenager in sneakers could outrun a 6-month old kitten, she probably wasn’t in the best of health.
That wasn’t quite dramatic enough for her though. The tiny terrified kitty crawled her way into the airbag compartment of the boy’s car, forcing him to have to go to the mechanic to get her out safely!
Once finally at ASWRV, Nikki stayed at the shelter for a week in their impound area. They waited anxiously to see if she would be claimed by an owner. During that time she stayed in the back of her cubby hole, flinching whenever she was touched. The poor girl would only come out to eat when no one was around. Once her week was up, she was cleared by the vet and put up for adoption.
All the staff at the shelter were worried about who would want this terrified little black kitten.
They decided to put her in a cat room with the most outgoing cat at the shelter. The social male was an orange tabby named Marmalade, after the famous Cole and Marmalade duo of course! Marmalade was a confident guy who insisted on making friends with every cat, dog, and human that entered the shelter.
After just a day, Nikki and Marmalade were sleeping and playing together. Nikki was successfully taking her social cues from her new best bud. She started allowing people to pet her without flinching, and soon even started strutting around and purring when given attention!
They all all knew that Marmalade would not last long before being adopted. It was nerve-wracking to imagine Marmalade would find his forever home first, leaving Nikki behind.
A family of three came in one day and fell head over heels for Marmalade. They decided he was the right guy to join their family.
One of the staff members jokingly mentioned to the family that Nikki automatically came with Marmalade. After hearing the story of her difficult journey, the decision was made. They would take Nikki home too!
They didn’t mind that Nikki would likely never be the outgoing cat Marmalade is, but hated to separate what was now a clearly bonded pair.
A couple of weeks later Marmalade, now Max, is ruling the roost at his new home, teaching Nikki, now Iris, how confident catting is done. He goes out on adventures every day, while she mostly watches what is going on inside the house. We are so happy that this Cole and Marmalade look-alike pair found their fur-ever home together and get to live the dream!
REMEMBER: SPAY AND NEUTER & ADOPT, DON’T SHOP!!!
Awesome that they got a home together! !!!