Emrys had a rough start. Found on Woodland Avenue, he was surrendered to the Cleveland APL with an upper respiratory infection. He sure looked pretty bedraggled in the email plea for a foster home that Sabah received! She had moved back to Cleveland about a year before, bought a house and lost her beloved cat Tigger to cancer at around the same time. She started fostering for the APL with her dog Leeloo, since they both were used to having cats around, and Sabah missed having a cat to play with.
He wasn’t her first foster cat, but something about the scraggly kitten caught her eye. She had just gotten back from a work trip and had another one in a few weeks, but decided she could handle a week of fostering a kitten in between. She rushed to the APL after work one day to pick up Puri (as he was called then)—and purry he was! His little motor started as soon as anyone looked his way, even purring when she gave him chin scratches through the carrier bars on the ride home.
This handsome boy's photo had not done him justice. Sabah was charmed by the starkly contrasting cream and black tabby stripes on his legs, the adorable spots on his belly, the orange-to-black fade on his ears, and his paws, which were all black on the bottoms, like he had walked through ink. Plus, his cross-eyes, single snaggle tooth and odd eye lids! He quickly established rapport with Sabah's little dog Leeloo. The two played chase around the house and both napped on her boyfriend when he was sick.
She didn't want to give him back. So the morning he was due to head back to the APL, she sat Leeloo the dog and this little stray down to ask him a very important question. "Ok, little guy? How would you like to come live with us?" And, would you believe it, this charmer nuzzled Leeloo right on the nose. And just like that, Sabah had a cat again!
In their short time together Emrys has managed to worry his mom a good bit. He was diagnosed with a slight eyelid defect (which just adds to his good looks), and a heart murmur (for which they are exploring treatment options). But the APL got him off to a good start and into a home that will deal with his shenanigans. These days this little wizard (named after the slightly goofy character on the British Merlin TV show and the magician in Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy) can be found trying to climb in the shower with his mom to play with the water, perching on her shoulder while she's trying to brush her teeth, teasing his long-suffering sister Leeloo (who is far too polite to give him the what-for he deserves), trying to bite everything, or trying to swallow entire pieces of string no matter how many times his mother tells him it's bad for him.
You can follow the adventures of Emrys and his sister at
@viciousleeloo on Instagram.
Information about the Cleveland APL
To meet the adoptable animals at the Cleveland APL, visit our adoption center in Tremont at 1729 Willey Avenue in Cleveland or our PetSmart Charities® Everyday Adoption Center in the Parma PetSmart® store at 6870 Ridge Road. To view all of the animals who are waiting for loving homes online or on your mobile device, visit
www.ClevelandAPL.org or download our free adoptions app on your iOS or Android device.
Our Facebook page is called “Cleveland Animal Protective League”. Here is the link to it for your reference:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cleveland-Animal-Protective-League/29396512928
Our Twitter handle is @Cleveland APL. Here is a link:
https://twitter.com/ClevelandAPL
Carmen Rey
Cleveland Animal Protective League