Senior cat's incredible final journey
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00:00 (cat meows)
00:00 You wanna tell everybody about the rough week you had?
00:02 When my grandfather passed away in December of 2019,
00:05 he left behind his 14 year old cat, Mackenzie.
00:09 (cat meows)
00:10 Oh!
00:11 She was a grumpy, growly calico,
00:13 and there was no one in our family able to adopt her.
00:16 I was truly her only option.
00:18 Good morning.
00:19 My name is Angela Raffuse,
00:22 and this is Mackenzie's story for GEOBeats.
00:24 Good morning.
00:25 Mackenzie was originally adopted from a shelter.
00:28 It's getting awkward.
00:29 It's getting this awkward.
00:29 (cat meows)
00:30 She was a kitten from the local shelter
00:32 that my grandmother wanted and my grandfather didn't.
00:35 After my grandparents passed away,
00:36 it was make it work or take Mackenzie to a shelter.
00:39 And she was 14 years old and grumpy and growly,
00:42 and she would have spent her very last days at a shelter.
00:44 (cat meows)
00:45 And that option just didn't make any sense to me.
00:47 It just always made sense to take her.
00:49 You can be a good girl.
00:51 (cat meows)
00:51 My dad's a welder,
00:52 so the only way we could get her
00:54 out of my grandparents' house
00:55 was to use my dad's welding gloves
00:57 to put her in a cat carrier
00:59 and then to get her to our house.
01:00 Want your belly rubbed?
01:02 Oh, maybe not.
01:03 Ah!
01:04 Do you wanna cuddle?
01:05 It took a good, I would say,
01:06 probably month for her to even come near me.
01:09 I remember one night I was just looking at my phone
01:12 sitting on the couch and she hopped up beside me.
01:14 There it is.
01:16 (cat meows)
01:17 Hi.
01:18 It was a slow transition for sure,
01:20 but once she trusted us,
01:21 she was just the sweetest cat in the world.
01:23 (cat meows)
01:26 (upbeat music)
01:28 You waiting for dad to sit there so he can cuddle you?
01:30 I remember my dad was downstairs in the basement one day
01:33 and there Mackenzie was sound asleep on his lap
01:35 and I just looked at him and I was like,
01:36 you can't move, and he goes, nope.
01:39 So we ended up sitting there for a couple hours
01:40 with her just laying on his lap and it was great.
01:43 (cat meows)
01:44 She had a really grumpy meow,
01:47 so a normal cat would meow and everyone would say,
01:50 oh, it's just a cat meowing.
01:51 Snuggling with your grandma.
01:52 (cat meows)
01:53 But Mackenzie would meow and they're like,
01:54 why is that cat so mad?
01:56 And I'm like, she's just talking.
01:58 (cat meows)
01:58 We used to say she didn't know how to use her hiss properly
02:01 'cause she would just be walking down the hall
02:02 and just hiss at herself.
02:04 Mackenzie's meeting a friend today.
02:06 I would pick her up and she would hiss,
02:07 but I'd also put her down and she would hiss.
02:09 Hurry.
02:11 One time we were at the beach,
02:12 she loved watching the waves.
02:14 Look out, you're gonna get your toes wet.
02:16 And one of the waves came a little too close to her paws
02:18 and she hissed at the wave.
02:20 Here comes a big wave.
02:21 Oh no.
02:23 Mackenzie's whole thing was trust.
02:25 What are you guys doing?
02:27 Still the flower.
02:29 You ready to get up?
02:34 (growling)
02:36 She was really scared of the car at first,
02:38 but once she realized the car meant going somewhere fun,
02:40 then she just had a blast.
02:42 Here, I'll get the door.
02:43 Go ahead and leave.
02:48 Same thing with being at our cottage,
02:49 at the beach, on the boat, like you name it.
02:51 Look at the bubble.
02:53 Once she learned that she could trust it,
02:55 then it was the best thing ever.
02:56 It's gonna be a great day.
02:58 We were the best of friends.
03:01 I'm making tofu.
03:03 Wanna try some?
03:04 At the same time I moved home,
03:05 I was going through a lot in my personal life
03:08 and it was very similar for Mackenzie.
03:09 Her whole life was uprooted.
03:11 So we bonded partially because of that.
03:14 You wanna tell everybody how old you are?
03:16 (growling)
03:17 Mackenzie was the inspiration behind our charity,
03:20 which is called My Grandfather's Cat.
03:22 It's a non-profit organization
03:23 that helps seniors find homes for their pets.
03:26 Oh, you're tasting me, Mack.
03:28 Should I be nervous?
03:29 We've found 152nd Forever Homes across Canada to date.
03:34 (cat meowing)
03:36 You getting mad?
03:37 You can call her a grumpy cat,
03:39 but I think she was the sweetest girl in the world.
03:41 Every single day I told her I loved her.
03:44 She's really mad.
03:45 It's raining.
03:46 My biggest thing was always taking care of her
03:48 because that's what my grandparents would have wanted.
03:50 And that's what I did until she was almost 18 years old.
03:53 I'm very grateful I was able to adopt her
03:55 and have her for three years.
03:57 I fully believe that her and my grandparents are together,
04:00 that they're high above the clouds,
04:02 being our guardian angels.
04:03 Mackenzie snuggled up between them all together
04:05 and watching down on us.
04:07 (gentle music)
04:09 (gentle music)
04:12 (gentle music)