When we moved back to Arlington in August 2008, we knew we were finally settled enough to adopt the cats we'd been wanting for a long time. It was sheer luck that we stumbled across Homeward Trails. We knew we wanted a bonded pair, and we wanted at least one of the cats to be black because we know black cats have a harder time being adopted. We quickly narrowed the available cats to two pairs, but when we met them, we knew Trouble and Pax (previously Spark and Toby, respectively) were the right cats for us. They were living at PetMAC at the time, and Trouble (a slightly petite, all black cat) met us at the door and let us pick him up immediately. Then we were regaled with stories from PetMAC staff about how everyone loved Pax (a big orange tabby), but no one that had considered him had wanted two cats. We brought Trouble and Pax home less than two weeks after first meeting them.

We lost our almost 19 year old poodle in May 2008. When we were finally ready to get another dog, we decided to adopt a rescue dog. We scoured Petfinder and found Milo and Otis and instantly fell in love. We applied to adopt them, then met them and their foster Mom. She told us they were found in Baltimore in July, and that when they were picked up, they were very dirty and very skinny. When we met them in September, they were no longer dirty and they were no longer skinny.

We were beyond ecstatic when we received an application for Bunny's adoption, a feline leukemia (FeLV) positive Manx kitty.  Upon notifying our partner shelter in Wetzel County, West Virginia of this news, we learned that Bunny had a best friend and cage-mate, Freda, a lovely FeLV+ tuxedo kitty.  The thought of Freda alone in her cage was painful to fathom so we decided to bring her up to DC with Bunny to find a foster home for her.  Our initial excitement was quickly topped when Bunny's potential adopters suggested that they would consider adopting Freda as well!!  Freda, a fluffy purring machine, quickly won their hearts just as Bunny had, and these kind people were the proud parents of a two new FeLV+ cats.  These two kitties are now living in New Jersey, snuggling with two small canine friends and another resident FeLV+ cat named Brandy as well!

I adopted Scout and Riley in August 2009, having first met them in July 2009 at an HT adoption event. My cat of 11 years had just died suddenly in June 2009, and I went to the adoption event to begin the process of thinking about getting another cat, but didn't think I was ready just yet.

Thirty seconds after walking into the adoption event I saw a sweet little brown tabby cat named Ginger, who walked up to me through her cage and started purring. The HT volunteer was astounded; apparently Ginger was very scared at adoption events and never approached anyone. She walked right into my arms and I picked her up and she started purring right away. Then I noticed her sister the next cage over, Lilly, a white kitty with tabby patches. I was told they were sisters and they wanted to be adopted together. Lilly was super friendly too and also purred immediately after I picked her up.

The day after my birthday last year, my very-much-loved 17 year-old cat, Calypso, succumbed to kidney failure and had to be put to sleep. I’d gotten her, my first-ever cat, just a few months after I moved out on my own as a young adult, and home didn’t feel like home without her. My remaining cat, Tiki, was thirteen years old and had never been alone, either. No matter how much we cuddled, we both felt lost.

My husband and I connected with Homeward Trails through Craig's List--we had been thinking about adopting an older dog and offered to foster a dog that was set to be euthanized shortly. Turned out that the dog we inquired about was safe, but we learned that there were so many more that needed our help. Our Homeward Trails contact (and now friend, Lisa Milot) worked with us to find two great pups. We adopted Kelly and Sally, an older pair of bonded, large, mostly black dogs with some health issues. Kelly and Sally were originally adopted into a loving home in Georgia as puppies, but their owner had to go into assisted living.