Cleo

Cleo once was a barn cat. Literally! A friend of Kandie's, who kept horses at the same barn where our horses lived at the time, owned Cleo and kept her at the barn to be a mouser, with no real expectations of Cleo becoming a pet. Just a professional mouse eliminator. She is rubbing against my shins as I type this, purring and softly meowing, so you will know how the story turns out.

Kandie's friend needed to move away, and had nowhere to keep Cleo where she was going, so Cleo got left behind. We all eventually made friends with her, and when the barn was sold, we decided to take Cleo home with us. Cleo, however, had different plans.

We brought Cleo home in a cat carrier, 2.5 miles to our house, and locked her in a room so she would learn that our house was now her home. She made many escape attempts, and finally knocked a window out of its frame and disappeared. We spent weeks wandering the field behind our house (loaded with mice) calling her name, to no avail. I thought it was very sad that she was now alone, wherever she was.

One day, Kandie and the boys were picking up some equipment and building materials left at the old barn, and there was Cleo! She had found her way back to the barn, all by herself! Amazing. They brought her home again, and we kept her inside for weeks until she felt at home. Either because of that, or because the barn was missing all her friends (horses and us) and she was no longer being fed, she stayed with us, and has ever since.

Now she is the most affectionate cat you'd ever want. Talks to us whenever she meets us, gets between us and the keyboard and leeeeeaaaans against us, purring, etc.