People seem to believe dogs and cats cannot be friends, and they should always be separated.
One day, Morticia (cat) and Gomez (dog) convinced an entire stadium that this isn’t true.
It all started when a Good Samaritan spotted a small dog (Gomez) and a little black kitten (Morticia) huddled together between two portable toilets at Hampton Soccer Park, in Hampton, Virginia.
In an effort to bring attention to the bonded pair, a Good Samaritan posted their location on Nextdoor, and this prompted some animal lovers to rush to the soccer complex and find them frozen in place.
So this made getting the two to safety a bot more difficult than first anticipated.
An anonymous Good Samaritan wrote in a social media post: “Totally bonded — dog barks when we approach it too closely; we’ve notified animal control.” “We’re monitoring them right now,” the Good Samaritan added.
Eventually, they were brought to a local shelter so they could wait for their owner to come forward. Turkan Ertugrul, director of Saver of Souls Pet Rescue, stopped everything she was doing after seeing a photo of the pair on the Facebook group Lost & Found Pets of Hampton Roads, VA.
As a result of their fear in the picture, we took notice, Ertugrul said, adding that they are more likely to accept help when they are scared.
Ertugrul couldn’t get the bonded animals out of her mind, especially since she knew they would most likely be kept apart at the shelter.
For safety reasons, it’s against policy at most shelters to put dogs and cats together, and we knew the two would have to be separated. “We were worried about the lives of these two animals apart from each other,” Ertugrul said.
Considering the animals seemed to have formed a bond, she knew psychological health was important. What’s worse, she knew the shelter wouldn’t be able to guarantee a home for the 10-month-old kitten and her protective pup.
“Most shelters can’t enforce that bonded pairs get adopted together,” Ertugrul said. “They are there to save lives, and holding on to a pair that may take a long time to get adopted together would endanger others’ lives.”
Once Etugrul was able to release the two, he arranged for them to be housed together as soon as possible. Fortunately for the cute bonded pair, the shelter workers also did not want to separate them, so they organized playdates for them in a meeting room where they were always happy to see each other.
Having spent several months in foster care, it is clear how close the animals are. “[Gomez] ran toward the foster’s black cats at first, thinking one was Morticia, but his disappointment was palpable when he realized it was not her,” Ertugrul said.
While the two are sweet and loving toward people, their bubbly personalities shine through when they’re finally together. When Gomez meets people for the first time, he is timid, but quickly warms up to them. “When Morticia is around, he really opens up,” Ertugrul said. “When they meet together, they are more outgoing and happier.”
The two will search for a home after they’ve been spayed and neutered. There’s no place they’d rather be than together forever.
Saver of Souls Pet Rescue can help you adopt the bonded pair if you live in Hampton Roads, Virginia.