Once A Cat With The Saddest Face, Fishtopher Now Knows The Good Life

By: Kelli Brinegar
For more than five years, Kelli Brinegar has been using her ability to write and her passion for research to tell the tale of what cats are thinking and why. She has provided care to more than 30 cats in her lifetime.Read more
| January 9, 2023

Remember Fishtopher, the sad cat whose shelter photos went viral? Of course, you do. Who could forget his adorably forlorn look? It was that very look that earned him the love of the social media masses and earned him a forever home.

Now, his Twitter account reveals this once sad cat is living the good life and bossing his pawrents around like they’ve been his minions for years! His bio says it right, with Fishtopher describing himself as a “saddy now a baddie living in MD.” And with more than seventy-eight thousand cat lovers already following his Twitter, it’s safe to say this tabby boy is even more charming when he’s not sad!

The Tale of the Sad Cat

When Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in Blackwood, New Jersey, took Fishtopher into their care, the staff knew they’d rescued a special guy. As they described him in his adoption profile, Fishtopher is “Friendly, Affectionate, Gentle, and Quiet.” This big tab also loves the “Couch potato” life, cuddling in the security of a hug, and even enjoys the company of other cats.

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But for all the goodness in his kitty fish heart, Homeward Bound shared, “Fishtopher is not a fish out of water, but he is out of sorts at the shelter. He is very sad and depressed and will only eat when he has company.”

“Five-year-old Fishtopher was found as a stray, maybe he is missing his family.”

“Fishtopher is a big cheeky boy, wouldn’t you love rubbing up on those big cheeks?”

And when Laura Folts and her partner Tanner Callahan of Baltimore, Maryland, saw his sweet face online, they hopped in the car and made the hundred-mile trip to New Jersey with the hope of bringing him forever home for unlimited cheek rubs!

“Knowing he was popular, we drove up to Homeward Bound with some hopes, but knew if not Fishtopher, we wouldn’t come home empty paw’d as we saw a few other cats online that we were considering,” Laura told NBC News. “We arrived early enough to be the first ones and he was adopted!”

Helping Others Find Forever

With Fishtopher being such a famous face in the cat world, friends encouraged his parents to create a social media presence. And how could Laura not jump on board with the idea? After all, she’s got one fabulous feline to feature!

As Laura shared on Fishtopher’s Twitter page, “I want to use this new audience to help other Fishtophers and give people fun cat photos of him chilling at home (which is what the internet was made for).”

“We saw how willing many others were to adopt Fishtopher, even around the country, and we want to use Fishtopher’s audience to find animals for those people,” Laura explained to NBC.

And Homeward Bound is “super happy” for Fishtopher, but they want to remind those seeking cats to adopt, “If you were interested in him, have no fear. We have hundreds of other kitties who are just as wonderful and are wishing that people would come and stand in line for them.”

Follow Fishtopher on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with this sad-made-happy tabby cat! Want more tom cats turned pampered pusses? Check out Gus The Cat And The Case Of The Missing Testicle!

Feature Image: Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center & Fishtopher the Cat/Instagram