When Grace said goodbye to her beloved cat, Ichabod, earlier this year, her heart felt irreparably broken. Ichabod, also known as Ichy, was Grace’s best friend, and after years of the cat battling kidney disease, she was devastated to lose him.
As she kissed her sweet cat one last time, with tears rolling down her cheeks, she wondered if she would ever meet anyone as special as Ichy again.
A few weeks later, in an attempt to ease her grief, Grace volunteered at her local shelter to socialize adoptable cats. She wasn’t looking to take any of the cats home with her, as she didn’t feel ready to adopt yet. All she wanted was to make a few new friends.
And then she saw Mr. Wash, a black-and-white cat, who instantly caught her attention.
“[He] stood out
to me immediately,” Grace told The Dodo.
One of the first things Grace noticed about Mr. Wash was his FIV diagnosis, a lifelong infection that affects the immune system. Just like Ichy, Mr. Wash was FIV positive, and Grace worried that he’d be overlooked because of the diagnosis, despite being able to live a normal, healthy life.
Then, she approached his cage, and his reaction sent her spinning.
“[H]e perked up immediately,” Grace said. “The moment I made eye contact with him, I saw Ichy. I don’t know how to explain it, but I saw Ichy in that adorable face.”
The familiarity Grace felt looking at Mr. Wash’s face only intensified when the sweet boy lovingly headbutted her, just like Ichy used to do. Overwhelmed with emotion, Grace texted her loved ones to tell them about Mr. Wash and discuss whether she should take him home. But ultimately, Ichy’s passing felt too recent to make such a big decision.
“As much as it felt like fate, I still had a lot of grieving to do before I was ready to open my heart up again,” Grace said.
Grace went home that evening thinking about Mr. Wash. She refreshed the shelter’s website every day afterward, and when his face finally disappeared from the page of adoptable pets, she felt simultaneously relieved and regretful.
“I was, of course, happy that he had been adopted … but also sad because I felt like I might’ve made the wrong decision. Did I make a mistake by not adopting him that day? Was he a sign from Ichy, and I missed it?” Grace said.
Months passed, and Grace did her best to distract herself from Mr. Wash while still grieving Ichy. She fostered another cat, one whom she hoped to bond with, but ultimately, their connection “just wasn’t the same.” It wasn’t until the cat went to his new home that Grace realized her thoughts on adoption had changed.
“I remember telling my therapist, ‘I think I’m ready to adopt again, but I just wish Ichy could send me a sign so I’d know for sure,’” Grace said. “It felt silly to say out loud.”
After speaking with her therapist, Grace began checking the shelter’s website religiously. Then, one day, she saw a familiar face on the adoptables page again.
“[He] was back,” Grace said. “That uncertainty I had experienced the first time I met him was gone: I knew this time that this was my cat.”
Without skipping a beat, Grace showed up at the shelter the next morning with Mr. Wash’s adoption paperwork in hand. Moments later, Grace walked out of the shelter with Mr. Wash in a carrier and a giant smile on her face.
“I took him home that day with joy in my heart that I hadn’t felt since before Ichy passed,” Grace said.
You can watch Mr. Wash's adoption unfold here:
That day, Grace gave Mr. Wash a new name: Bo, short for Bones, after a character in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," where Ichabod’s name also came from. One of many connections between the two cats.
It’s been a couple of weeks since Bo joined Grace’s family, and the two couldn’t be happier together. Since adopting Bo, Grace has noticed many similarities between him and Ichy, as well as some key differences.
“Every single person who ever met Ichy, even if they had previously declared themselves a ‘non-cat person,’ fell in love with him, and it’s been the exact same with Bo,” Grace said. “At the same time, I did not expect the two of them to be so different. Ichy, on the one hand, almost never meowed. Bo, however, chats to me all day, every day.”
Bo has also proven to be more energetic than his late brother, trading in lazy naps on the couch for vigorous zoomies around the whole house. But his energy keeps Grace on her toes, and she is thankful to have him around as she continues to process her grief over Ichy's loss.
When Grace decided to volunteer at the shelter soon after Ichy’s death, she never planned on taking anyone home with her. But now that she has Bo in her life, she’s certain that it was all meant to be.
“Losing Ichy was the hardest experience I have ever had to face, but knowing that he sent me a friend to keep me company has made it just a little bit easier,” Grace said. “I’m not sure how I got so lucky twice in a row!”
