Joey was found by his owner Grace at a shelter when he was around 4-7 years old.
He was born with a congenital defect which meant that his two front legs didn’t fully form.
When he was found he tested positive for Feline Scabies, or mange, which is a highly contagious skin disease so he had to be quarantined from other cats at the shelter.
He was also flagged as feral and aggressive by the shelter staff at intake, and the people there didn’t think he’d ever be able to be socialized.
But it turns out he just needed someone who was willing to wait for him to come out of his shell.
Time heals all wounds
It only took a couple of weeks at home with Grace for Joey to open up and start showing just how much of a cuddle bug he really was.
He was even accepting kisses!
Soon it was time for Grace to introduce Joey to her own cat, Kitty Boy.
She took it slow, first letting them hear each other meow, then sniff and see each other through a crack in a door, until finally they were allowed in the same room.
As the days went on, Joey was making great improvements.
Soon he was learning some cat skills from Kitty Boy, even if he wasn’t ready to be the best of friends just yet.
Finally at home
Grace suspects that Joey was owned before he was rescued because of how quickly he took to being petted once she took him home.
He definitely seemed accustomed to humans, even if his love of Kitty Boy took a while to develop.
But Joey came around to him in the end.
Joey was only supposed to be a foster cat at first, but he wiggled his way into Grace’s heart.
The only problem was that Grace fostered quite frequently, and she was worried how Joey would react to new cats being around.
He did get on with Kitty Boy and her two dogs eventually, but it took time.
If she was going to keep him she’d need to be sure he wouldn’t react badly.
And just like before, Joey proved that what people thought of him was the opposite of how he actually was!
