Birthday girl celebrates with kitten adoption

Each year, thousands of pets from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and Best Friends Lifesaving Centers across the country meet their match and go home. While it’s exciting to see so many pets get adopted, each one of those “gotcha days” is precious, a moment a family will always remember. So when Best Friends staff see an opportunity to make an adoption even more special, they take it — like they did for one Texas military family and a little kitten named Sarah.

During the warmer months of the year, more litters of kittens are born — a time known as kitten season. And consequently, these kittens start showing up at shelters. It starts as a trickle, but before long, it’s a full-on monsoon of tiny fuzzy faces. To provide care and find homes for all these new arrivals, shelters call upon other animal welfare organizations for help. Best Friends’ goal is for all shelters to reach no-kill, and that means working together to save pets’ lives, during kitten season and year-round.

That’s how Sarah and her three littermates came into Best Friends’ care. The 3-month-old kittens first came to a Houston-area shelter, which reached out for help to make room for more pets in need. Best Friends took them in, got them vet care, and set out to find them homes.

Clara had been begging for a kitten, and it seemed like the time was finally right. Clara was approaching her seventh birthday and ready to help with caring for a pet. The timing was right for her family, too, which includes mom Rachel, dad Tim, big brother Sawyer, and dog Echo. The family recently moved to Houston for Tim’s career in the military, and they were finally feeling settled in their new home.

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Their hearts were ready, too. Not long ago, the family said goodbye to their beloved senior cat, Rascal. Tim and Rachel adopted Rascal as a 2-month-old kitten when they were a newlywed couple stationed in Hawaii. For the next 15 years, Rascal was by their side as they moved from home to home across the country and as their family grew. “He went through a lot of life with us and was such a gentle, sweet cat,” says Rachel.

Of course, no cat could ever replace Rascal, but they were about to meet a kitten whom they could love just as much.

A late-night online search led Rachel to Best Friends in Houston. She and Clara visited the next day and met several friendly felines before the staff brought out Sarah. The gray striped kitten with white socks was a tad shy at first, but within minutes, she was playing and purring. Clara wanted a kitten who was both playful and cuddly, and Sarah checked all the boxes. It quickly became clear that she’d be going home with them.

While chatting with the family, the team learned that Clara had just had a birthday. Coincidentally, it was also staff member Stephanie Swift’s birthday. To celebrate, Stephanie’s co-workers had brought her a birthday tiara and balloons. With an enthusiastic blessing from her co-workers, she decided to give the items to Clara.

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After the adoption was finalized, the team came out and surprised Clara with all the birthday gear, adding some extra sparkle to an already special day.

“It wasn’t just about a kitten going home. It was about creating a memory that will stay with that family for years to come,” says fellow staff member Sarah Shaw. “It’s honestly the best part of the work we do.”

Clara named her new kitty “Sarah” for two reasons: It rhymes with Clara, and it means “princess” (fitting for the royal treatment she’d just received).

When Sarah the kitten came home, she got to meet Tim and Sawyer, who both fell in love with her. The family introduced her to Echo the dog slowly. At first, Sarah wasn’t sure what to make of her new canine housemate, but they would become fast friends and playmates.

Today, Sarah’s family can’t imagine life without her. “She is the sweetest and cutest and most playful kitty ever,” says Clara. Sarah has become ruler of the house and keeps everyone laughing with kitten antics. Her signature move is snuggling up on someone’s shoulder, earning her the nickname “parrot-cat.”

Clara has fully embraced her role as cat caregiver, from feeding Sarah and scooping her litter box to building her elaborate blanket forts stuffed with toys. “(Sarah’s favorite things to do are) chase feet, get the zoomies, and explore the backyard with me,” says Clara. “And she loves to nap everywhere!”

No matter where the military might take Clara and her family, she’ll have her best friend Sarah by her side.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.