Bonded Pairs

Mojo and Blue came to me one day like fallen angels - two solid white brothers with piercing eyes.  Blue had eyes the color of the water in Crater Lake.  Mojo had one blue eye and one golden eye.  They were strikingly beautiful and unique, both in looks and personality.  It was love at first sight! 

Mojo and Blue had been found roaming an empty field together, likely surviving on whatever edible creature they were able to catch amongst the weeds.  They were 5 months old - spunky and full of life.  I had just graduated from college and was living in an apartment that didn't allow pets.  I sat and watched them play in their cage while I considered how I might be able to convince my landlord to let me adopt a cat. When I told the receptionist at the veterinary clinic that I was interested in potentially adopting one of them, she insisted that they could not be separated and that I would have to adopt them both.  I was certainly not prepared to adopt two cats so I left the veterinary office and went home to consider my options.  The instant I walked out of the office I felt as though I was abandoning my babies.  I knew in that moment that I couldn't live without them.  The next day I went back to to get them and that night they slept in bed with me as if they had been there since birth.  It was one of the happiest moments of my life!  

Mojo and Blue were inseparable.  They ejoyed lounging amongst roses together, playing with the trickle of water when I took baths, basking in the sun spot on the carpet, and spooning me like a couple of book ends. When Blue died tragically at a mere three years of age, Mojo paced the house aimlessly and talked as if asking where his brother went.  It wasn't his normal meow, like when he announced his arrival or asked for food.  This was different.  He stopped sleeping with me for a while and would wander through the house like a ghost hunter - anticipating his brother leaping out from behind the curtain or sneaking up behind him.  He would never have another snuggle with his buddy, and they would never again chase each other up and down the stairs of our old house.  We both learned to live without Blue, but we certainly would have preferred to enjoy another 15 years of life with him.

Mojo and Blue had the good fortune of going to a loving home together, though later separated by a premature death.  It is a privilege to be able to honor the bond that animals share by enabling them to live out their lives together.  Bonded pairs are often split up when they are surrendered to shelters because we can't hold an animal back from finding a forever home.  When interested adopters approach the cage of a bonded pair, we hold our breath, cross our fingers, and hope for the best.