Join NBC 5 for this year's Clear the Shelters pet adoption event on July 23 in the Chicago area to help shelter animals find forever homes.
It is not always easy to decide which pet to take home from the animal shelter. For Ellen Bashore, even when she was torn between a couple cats, she knew she had to choose Bandit.
“At the shelter there are so many animals there and you’re just like, 'How am I supposed to know the one that’s right for me,'” Bashore said.
Bandit is no stranger to company. When Bashore approached Bandit at the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, he kept coming up to the cage and wanting her attention.
“As soon as they opened the gate, he was meowing,” Bashore said. “He wasn’t afraid of me, he wanted to talk to me.”
Bashore went to the Clear the Shelters event last August with a few friends to help her decide on a feline friend. Bandit was not shy around any of them and instantly went to sit on laps.
Bashore came to the Anti-Cruelty Society envisioning adopting a younger cat, but this 7-year-old furry friend stole her heart.
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“He’s perfect,” Bashore said.
In addition to his outgoing personality, she said Bandit has unique habit.
“For a long time he would only drink out of the faucet, he wouldn’t drink out of a bowl,” Bashore said. “He got in the habit of waking me up in the middle of the night because he was thirsty.”
Bandit hopped up on Bashore’s pillow and put his paws on her head, inching closer until he was on Bashore to wake her up, she said.
To avoid any more interrupted sleep, Bandit soon had a kitty water fountain of his own. The spout of water flows like a waterfall so Bandit can get his water whenever he needs it.
“I didn’t know what [a kitty water fountain] was until my cat became a diva,” Bashore said.
Bashore has always loved cats and as soon as she moved into an apartment in Chicago that allowed the animals, she knew he needed to get one, especially through Clear the Shelters that encouraged her to adopt her companion.
“Whatever room I’m in he wants to be in,” Bashore said. “Even if I’m not snuggling or if I’m in the bathroom when I’m getting read he will lie on my feet.”
