Meet Matt, this month's (December, 2006) Town Cats Volunteer of the Month!

Matt ended up finding his new best pal Hobo at Town Cats....

This is the story of how the love between a teenaged boy named Matt and a cat named Hobo gave both their lives meaning again...

This past April 2006 we received a plea from a San Jose shelter volunteer to take in a grey tabby short haired 2 year old cat named Hobo who had been abandoned by his foster family at a vet in San Jose. We happened to have room and took him in. He was a very depressed boy. Cats are very sensitive, and he had been given up twice, due to no fault of his - he's got no behavioural issues, not skittish, he was just a regular, happy little housecat who's family decided it was no longer "convenient" for Hobo to remain in their lives any longer. Anyway, poor little Hobo wouldn't eat, he had a cold and just stayed in his cage all day when he first arrived at Town Cats.

Town Cats' relies on volunteer power to do our work and the local high schools and community organizations refer a lot of teens to us to volunteer for school credit. So when we received the call from Matt, a teenager, wanting to help out on weekends, we said yes, please come on down! Matt was young and our lead volunteers didn't know if he'd work out or not at first, but we gave him direction and he did it! We were very surprised to see what a hard worker he was and how he adored the cats. Volunteering at Town Cats really added a new dimension to Matt's life. He's quiet and gentle and related very well to the cats. Matt's primary duty was to clean the cat condos/scratch posts and to change the bedding/linens we put out for the cats to rest and nap on. When Matt discovered Hobo it was love at first sight! He would sit with him and pet him and Hobo responded to his attentions. Hobo who was still very sad and was attending our weekend adoption fairs in the hopes he'd find a good home. Matt had decided in his heart that he wanted to adopt Hobo. He had to convince his foster mom though and hadn't done that yet so he hadn't told us this was his plan. We were loading up the cats one Saturday to take them to the adoption fair and one of the volunteers saw that Matt had hidden Hobo in one of the cat condos and stuffed pillows in front of him so we wouldn't find him and take him to the adoption fair. We were so touched by this news that T, one of our volunteers who is very close to Matt, intervened to help Matt and Hobo be together. She spoke with Matt's foster mom who agreed to allow Matt to foster Hobo on a trial basis. Hobo did very well in his home and slowly came out of his depression and Matt was thrilled.

As it turned out, Matt's grandparents live in Virginia and Matt was scheduled to move in with them August 2006. So Matt had to get approval to adopt Hobo from his grandparents and fly Hobo home to Virginia with him. Well they of course agreed and T helped arrange for the travel to get Hobo and Matt home. They are both home now and extremely happy to have found each other! So it's not just about the cats or cleaning the shelter when you volunteer, it's about beings relating to other beings, animal or human and being touched by all of life's beauty and love. We are so happy that Hobo and Matt found each other at Town Cats and wish them the best always!

Thank you, Matt, for your great contribution to the cats and all your help, and for adopting and loving Hobo! Big Paws up for Matt!!!

Send us an email if you'd like to volunteer to help the cats!