Benny was adopted in February 2026. He had just been abandoned when his owner moved out of their house and left him to fend for himself. The landlord of the place, who was also part of a local TNR rescue group, took him to their local shelter. There, he was neutered and given a rabies shot. The shelter was full at the time so he was brought back to his former home and put in the basement to recover while she tried to place him in a new home.

My friend had seen his picture on a local Facebook page that is really big in our area for reuniting lost pets, rehoming. and SOS situations. She almost didn’t tell me about him given it hadn’t been long since we unexpectedly lost Ernie. But our conversation ended up leading to it and she showed me his post on there. She had told me he had just been abandoned and he looked like my type. She was right, totally my type, I love the floofers. So on a whim I filled out the application thinking I probably would never hear from them anyway. Well I did. They told me I could come and meet him, but not adopt him then because he would be meeting other potential adopters too.

The next day I drove to meet him which was about 20 minutes from my house. He was being kept in his former homes basement all alone while the upstairs was being flipped for the next tenant. I went down to a very dirty basement with only a cage and small blanket for him. He had been there for two weeks already. I felt so bad for him all alone down there. When I went in I immediately sat on the floor and to my surprise he immediately hopped into my lap and curled up purring. He seemed starved for affection. I had brought some treats and a couple toys for him and he was very excited to see that. I sat with him for a while then I asked if there was any way I could possibly adopt him and bring him home so he didn’t have to spend any more time in this dark basement alone. She hesitated then called the shelter to see what they thought. They agreed and I was able to scoop him up and take him home.