Together Again for Christmas – Jenny & Ellen

By Kathy M. Finley

The unexpected death of two of my cats; the death of a close friend, a neighbor, and the parents of three other friends; another close friend with an aggressive form of breast cancer; and my own diagnosis of atrial fibrillation made 2024 an unbearable year for me. And then there was the situation with my friend Ellen and her precious cat, Jenny. I was definitely not looking forward to the remainder of 2024, let alone the holidays at the end of the year.

Backstory

Jenny was a rescue cat discovered by a good Samaritan on the side of a busy street. She was emaciated, covered with tar and excrement, and near death.. Jenny was taken to the local humane society, and fortunately, they were able to nurse her back to health and put her up for adoption. Jenny was not an easy adoption since she had health issues, was seven years old, and was antisocial. But Ellen took a chance on her, and they quickly bonded and became inseparable.

In August 2024, Ellen underwent hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately, what was to be an overnight hospital stay turned into a 10-month ordeal because of an adverse drug interaction. Ellen’s lungs inflamed, and her care team induced a coma to save her life. She remained in the hospital for four months. 

During her time in the hospital, it was uncertain whether she would even live, let alone be able to ever return to her condominium and her sweet Jenny. Fortunately, a neighbor who had agreed to feed Jenny for a few days while she recovered from hip replacement surgery continued to feed her. Since he wasn’t a “cat person,” he only took care of Jenny’s basic needs (i.e., giving her food and water and scooping her litter).

Fostering Jenny

Because of busy schedules, I hadn’t seen Ellen in a while and did not learn of her situation for months. When I found out what happened to her, I immediately inquired about Jenny. Another friend of Ellen’s who occasionally checked out her condominium reported that Jenny was in bad shape. She wouldn’t eat and was rapidly losing weight. Normally a ten-pound cat, she was down to six pounds. Had it not been for her long hair, Jenny would have looked like a walking skeleton. She also had gone back to being antisocial. Meanwhile, the situation for Ellen looked grim. Doctors weren’t sure she would survive.

When I heard about the situation, I volunteered to help because I knew that Ellen would want to make sure her precious Jenny was okay. Jenny needed food and water, but she also needed human interaction. Unfortunately, because I had three cats (one of whom was dying of congestive heart failure and another I knew wouldn’t accept another cat in the house), I could not foster Jenny in my home. 

I searched for a foster home, but many had multiple cats, and Jenny did not get along well with other cats. Moreover, all the shelters were full. Jenny was now 15 years old, and she probably would not survive the trauma of leaving her surroundings. 

Fortunately, Ellen still had her condominium, and her sister gave me the key so I could care for her there since I only lived 10 minutes away. I enlisted the support of another friend who passed Ellen’s condominium daily on her way to an exercise class and was willing to stop off every other day to spend time with Jenny. To round out our “foster care team,” I enlisted another of Ellen’s neighbors to look in on Jenny in the evenings and days when I couldn’t check in on her. 

So, every day, I would go to Ellen’s condominium (or now Jenny’s condominium) to take care of her and spend quality time with her. My visits were supplemented by my friend’s visits and the neighbor’s visits.

At first, Jenny was standoffish. She would come out for a few minutes to see who was in the condominium, but then she would run and hide in a closet that we kept open for her. In the beginning, Jenny would barely eat. After I fed and watered Jenny and cleaned out the litter box, I would sit down and read, catch up on my emails, or pay bills. 

After several days, Jenny wandered out of the closet. She would sit by the couch and stare at me for a few minutes and then disappear. But as each day passed, she would spend more time watching me. After several weeks, I decided to play with her using a cat wand. Jenny enjoyed that, and two or three minutes of play time turned into 15 or 20 minutes of play time. 

After about a month, Jenny decided to jump up on the couch and sit with me after we played. At first, she would stay for only 10 to 15 minutes, but before long we were spending an hour or 90 minutes together. She also started to let me brush her and began eating regularly. 

When I took her to the vet to have her claws trimmed, she was up to eight pounds and after a few months more, she was up to her regular weight of ten pounds. When I arrived at the condominium, she no longer hid but ran toward me and followed me as I filled her water and food bowls and scooped the litter (to make sure I did it correctly).

Meanwhile, as the months passed, I visited Ellen in the hospital. While she was in a coma, I would tell her Jenny was okay and doing well. When she finally came out of her coma, I would bring pictures of Jenny and tell her of Jenny’s antics. Slowly but surely, and much to the surprise of the doctors, Ellen improved. Ellen’s wish was to be reunited with Jenny by Christmas 2023. Although that didn’t happen, Ellen had dramatically improved and in December was transferred to a skilled nursing facility. 

Although she didn’t get her wish of being together with Jenny, she did enjoy a visit from Jenny at Christmas and the good news that she would probably be able to move in a few months into an assisted living facility that accepted cats. In May, Ellen was finally able to move into an efficiency apartment at a cat-friendly, assisted living facility.

Together Again

After 10 long months, Jenny and Ellen finally were going to be reunited. Although I was delighted that they would be together again, I was also concerned whether this arrangement would work out. Ellen’s efficiency apartment was much smaller than her condominium. After their lengthy separation, I wondered whether Jenny would remember Ellen. 

If it didn’t work out, I worried what would happen to Jenny if I couldn’t adopt her. Even though I had lost two cats, my remaining cat was the one who disliked other cats, and Jenny also didn’t like other cats. And if she had to be adopted out, it would be difficult finding someone who wanted a cat who was now almost 16 years old.

Hoping for the best, my husband and I packed up Jenny’s belongings and moved her into the assisted living facility in July. Jenny immediately recognized Ellen. She jumped on Ellen’s lap when we opened the cat carrier and that night slept next to her. I checked in a few days later, and all was still going well. Jenny liked the apartment and the new “hiding spot” Ellen had created for her in a closet. She used the litter box and was eating.

Today things are still going well. Ellen is improving and is happy to be reunited with Jenny. She credits her recovery to knowing Jenny was being well cared for and that they would be together again. Jenny has adjusted well to her new surroundings and seems happy and healthy. And Jenny still remembers me, rubs against me, and starts purring.

A Happy Ending and a Christmas Wish Fulfilled

As I noted, 2024 was not a good year for me. I desperately needed some good news, and hoped that the year would end on a happy note with Jenny and Ellen reunited at Christmas. I did not think that Ellen and Jenny’s story was going to be the “happy tail” I needed. But it was, and I now look forward to the holidays. 

Although a year late, Ellen finally got her Christmas wish. Ellen and her sweet Jenny are together again and are enjoying the unbreakable bond that initially united them and will be spending Christmas together this year.

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