Real Life Garfield Gets Adopted on National Garfield Day

A big orange tabby cat, named Garfield (what else?) was surrendered to The Lost Dogs’ Home by his owner because their rental accommodations did not allow pets.

While their average is about 40 days for a cat to wait for a new home, Garfield was with them for over two months. Just waiting.

Since June 19 is National Garfield the Cat Day, the rescue had an idea.

“Social media can be a fantastic tool in spreading the word about animal adoption and highlighting our dogs and cats in need of new homes,” Kristen Vear, Social Media Officer for The Lost Dogs’ Home told iHeartCats.com. “Friday the 19th June was National Garfield the Cat Day, so we thought this was the perfect opportunity to profile Garfield on our social media channels. Little did we know his future family would come across his profile on Facebook. The rest, as they say, is history!”

Introducing Garfield! What better day to meet him than today – #GarfieldTheCatDayGarfield is a big, beautiful boy who…

Posted by The Lost Dogs’ Home on Thursday, June 18, 2015

Along with being featured on the site, Garfield’s adoption fee was waved as part of their “Share the Warmth campaign.” Garfield’s new family had seen before, but assumed he was already adopted.

“We had seen Garfield previously listed for adoption and thought that he would have been quickly snapped up due to a large number of comments on Facebook,” Garfield’s new owner, Laura told the rescue. “We hadn’t committed to another cat but continued looking. Garfield came up again on Facebook and there were a few comments about him again, but this time I acted swiftly and committed to going and collecting him from The Lost Dogs’ Home.”

Now, Garfield is purring it up in his new home!

Image source: The Lost Dogs' Home
Image source: The Lost Dogs’ Home

The following is an update Laura sent to The Lost Dog’s Home, who shared it with us with her permission:

Garfield particularly loves his new daddy and follows him around talking to him in his very gentle, soft meow. Both my hubby and I decided that Garfield was going to be our cat as all of our other pets in the past have been our children’s in name. Neither one of us have had a cat that we could call our own since childhood. We have never had an opportunity to have a cat that is ours as husband and wife.

Image source: The Lost Dogs' Home
Image source: The Lost Dogs’ Home

Garfield seems to be very food orientated and seeing that my husband is the main person to feed him, he seems to have a soft spot for him. Garfield is perpetually hungry and could eat all day long. I have decided that this hunger could actually be boredom so I have decided that I am going to give Garfield a treat ball with his dry food in it to give him something to do which may break the boredom. We introduced a treat ball to Garfield’s resident sister who learnt how to use her treat ball in a approx. 5-6 weeks.

Image source: The Lost Dogs' Home
Image source: The Lost Dogs’ Home

Garfield loves beds so will meow gently at every door of the house hoping and pleading that someone will open the door and let him in. Garfield gets to hop on the bed with my hubby and I and our adult son when he is home. Garfield is always appreciative of cuddles in bed and purrs beautifully. Garfield is also quite partial to the good old hot water bottle and will snuggle up even closer if he can feel it through the bed covers. Garfield also seems to enjoy the cat scratching post and the carpet squares strategically placed around our home for exercising claws.

Image source: The Lost Dogs' Home
Image source: The Lost Dogs’ Home

We love Garfield’s sweet little face, his gentle meow and his cuddles he gives us in bed.

Garfield wasn’t thrilled with the idea of doing his transitioning in the bathroom. After a couple of days Garfield decided that it was time for him to venture out of the bathroom at first opportunity.Garfield wasn’t keen to admire the view from the bathroom window sill either and trying to find a bed that he was happy to use took a few days. I think that Garfield thought he was Goldilocks, but once we found the right bed for him he was much more content. We went through six possibilities and then we found the one which isn’t particularly large so considering his size we were surprised that he liked it.

Adopting an animal is the best thing you could do. There are so many gorgeous animals that need a second chance. We have always adopted our pets and it has been a wonderful experience. We have never ever regretted an animal adoption.”

You can make a donation to help other pets in the care of The Lost Dogs Home by visiting their website or Facebook page.