Tuna!

Imagine going on a family vacation and leaving with a new family member. Well, that was almost me and my family this past July-August.

I had been traveling for a few weeks straight. I packed to move in to college 2 weeks ahead of time, then went to Puerto Rico with my family, then immediately to the Outer banks the following week. I would be moving straight into school from the Outer banks, driving my pre-packed car. At least I had the space in my hand-me-down car, though!

The 4 hour drive from North Carolina wasn’t terrible, but it meant I’d have no time to go back home and see my pets before moving away for the semester. I missed my cats and my dog so bad during my weeks of travel, and while I got to pet strays in passing, it wasn’t the same as my own. One stray in particular approached us in the OBX (Outer Banks), and ended up hanging around for the whole week.

My stepsiblings and I were just on the porch of the rental house, chatting one evening when we hear a small meow from below. A gray cat had walked straight up to the house to get our attention, and then ran off when we had noticed it. After a few minutes of some gentle coaxing, the cat came up to us and was the sweetest thing ever! We figured it may have been hungry, and ended up feeding it a packet of tuna. Nobody knew what to call him, so Tuna is what his nickname became. He had some sores and injuries on his body, but nothing stopped him from being the sweetest cat ever.

All he wanted was to be pet 24/7. We called around to local animal shelters, but nobody knew how to identify him. For the entire week that my family stayed in that house, he approached us day and night, and eventually just started sleeping and hanging out with us on the front porch! My stepsister grew so attached to him that he almost moved to Florida with her. I begged her to keep him as well, he would always come snuggle with us anytime we were outside of the house.

Above is a drawn image of Tuna sitting on my lap, just purring and making biscuits. I loved this cat, and he made it feel okay that I was away from my own for so long. He provided so much comfort to my family as well, as we had just lost my stepfather a few months prior, and this vacation was in his memory.

At the end of the week, my stepsister went to knock on doors to see if he belonged to any neighbors before taking him home, and one person confirmed that he was their cat. We were devastated! I think about Tuna often, and hope he is getting all the love and care he wants from his owners and strangers like us.