In Memory of Jojo 7/7/2018 – 4/11/2025
Every now and again, a pair will come to Shadow Cats. We’ve welcomed siblings into the ranks of our Shadow Cats, and even bonded pairs. Very rarely, a mama kitty will make her way to the sanctuary with babies in tow. Rare kitties and a rare situation indeed: this is how we met Jojo and her son, Yam!
Jojo had given birth to several kittens in October of 2019. Adorably, the kittens were named after various spuds. Yam earned his name because of his beautiful orange coat, and among his litter were a Sweet Potato and Potato Chip. Cute! Jojo and her little family were ready to be adopted and live out the rest of their lives happily in a forever home. Unfortunately, Jojo and Yam both tested positive for feline leukemia. Some great friends of Shadow Cats reached out to us, making us aware of their situation within a Massachusetts Humane Society. We had the room, thankfully, so they flew Jojo and her son to Shadow Cats in December of 2019.
Jojo and Yam joined the other kitties in Cookie’s Place, where they could have the forever home they’d dreamed of. We anticipated that Yam would perhaps stick to his mother’s side, having been so small, but Yam quickly became too cool for mom and ran the length (and width) of Cookie’s Place daily with his best friend Tigerlily! Jojo would spectate, content to be on her own, and pleased with her boy’s independence, we’re sure. Even cat moms need a break!
We know that when we take in feline leukemia positive kittens especially, we never know how long our time with them will be. Adults have an established immune system, and even if they don’t fight off the virus entirely, it can go into regressive stages and lay dormant, where they’re healthy until the day they’re not. Kittens are fragile, still relying on mom’s immunity in their younger age, and don’t have the bolstered defenses that an adult does. Unfortunately, Yam couldn’t fight off the virus for long. Feline leukemia claimed him, and Jojo was left without her son, who we’ll always remember as having the cutest four white paws we’ve ever seen.
Still, perhaps some part of Jojo knew. Yam spent months at Shadow Cats being a kitten, chasing, playing, snacking, sunbathing. Even if his time wasn’t long, a privilege not all of us are blessed with, his little life had meaning. Some kittens never get to know the warmth of a home, or other cats, or even their own mother. Nature can be cruel and unforgiving as it can be beautiful. Her son, though it wasn’t forever, knew love, happiness, and warmth for a time. And Jojo’s life continued on despite the loss.
But we know Jojo to be a strong girl. She always has been. Fussy about her oral medications, yes, but strong. Strong enough to evade even a tech with ten years of experience doing just that! But also emotionally strong. It feels a bit anthropomorphic to say, but we believe it. Jojo had a lot of odds stacked against her. Not only did she have feline leukemia, but she also had calicivirus, perhaps inherited from the life she lived before she entered the shelter system. This resulted in chronic congestion and nasal sores that progressed as time went on.
Still, despite it all, Jojo was sweet. She loved to pet her people, headbutting you for attention when you were near. She loved to sit at the topmost tier of a cat tree to groom you, those head bumps usually evolving into a full-on hair-chewing session whether you wanted it or not! Because of her chronic congestion, she was prone to sneezes and created many Jackson Pollock style artworks on the Cookie’s Place walls. Sometimes, when she’d groom you, she’d unintentionally use you as a canvas for her latest art piece. But we loved Jojo so much that we’d just laugh, find the nearest paper towel dispenser, and wash our faces. The things we do for love!
She was definitely more of a people cat than she was a cat’s cat. She couldn’t be bothered to snuggle, but nothing would summon her quite like the sound of someone sitting on a catio chair waiting for their lap to be filled with kitties! In fact, Jojo just enjoyed being outside in general. She had a favorite spot outside, a little nook she could nestle into and look out at the grass undulating with a cool breeze. From her perch, she could watch birds sing and squirrels bicker, and for five glorious years, she watched the reliable tree outside her catio shift with the seasons. It also wasn’t unusual to see her sprawled out on a shelf, and though she couldn’t smell the scents carried on a breeze very well, she could enjoy the stroke of a nice gust along her cute calico coat.
And boy…did Jojo have some striking colorations! She had this glorious white cravat, beautiful green eyes tinged like spring grass, and an orange streak from between her “eyebrows” all the way down her nose! This gorgeous girl perhaps didn’t deserve the constant comparison to various Muppet noses, but it was just too cute to leave as a missed opportunity! She was just adorable, and so sweet-natured. She had the sweetest little meows, sometimes quiet, and with a little side of blep.
We loved when she was especially feeling her oats, and would run inside from her favorite spot on the catio when she heard the girls dolloping a mix of fancy feast on a plate just for her. Jojo lived a beautiful, peaceful life, filled with so much love, attention, and a constant effort to improve its quality. We tried many different things for her congestion and nasal sores, working with several veterinarians. We are always dedicated to giving our kitties an incredible quality of life while they’re with us. The unfortunate reality is that even when some things would help for a time, they never helped for forever. It got to a point where we had one more option, and we knew if that failed, we’d have exhausted every opportunity to help our sweet Jojo remain comfortable.
It bought her some time. She had an incredible last few months. But the old symptoms returned soon enough, and we knew that even meowing was a struggle with the persistent inflammation and congestion. We knew that the final gift we could give her, with all of the love in our hearts, was a peaceful goodbye. So, on her favorite catio, with old and new friends alike, with laughter, memories of her son, forehead kisses, and pets…our Jojo peacefully left this world and moved onto the next. Carried reverently on the breeze she loved, our Jojo left us, and we were tearful but resolute that we’d given her the best life we could, and that she’d lived it admirably.
It can be hard, knowing that we don’t have forever, or even tomorrow. Saying goodbye is both the most beautiful blessing and the heaviest burden we carry. We can provide an end to pain and struggle, give a peaceful passing some of us don’t find in our own final moments. But it’s hard to walk into a room, for the body to remember that someone special once could be found there, and can’t any longer. Though we won’t find Jojo in her favorite nook any longer, or on the top tier of her favorite cat tree, she’ll live on forever in our hearts and in the precious memories we hold so dear.
We imagine that Jojo is breathing clean, fresh air now. She can smell those beautiful scents now, the smell of fresh grass, or perhaps the scent of a familiar someone waiting for her across the rainbow bridge. Jojo’s little Yam, with his forever kitten face that looks so much like his mom’s, waits for her across the rainbow bridge. Together, they bask in an eternal sun. Jojo can spectate, just like she used to, as Yam and Tigerlily run freely through an endless glade. No longer struggling to breathe, she can crane her neck downwards, nestling her nose in a beautifully unfurled spring flower just to take in the scent.
Thank you to Jojo’s incredible sponsors, Cheryl T, Amy J, Margaret H, Connie C, Linda V, Cheryl M, and Susan B. Thank you to the fabulous volunteers who showered Jojo with as much love as she could ever have hoped to want and then some. Thank you to our incredible, resilient, loving staff, who helped Jojo through her hardest days despite their difficulty. Thank you to Vista Vet for the incredible care they provided Jojo throughout the years. Thank you to anyone who looked at Jojo’s coat and thought, what a strikingly beautiful cat! We hope she knew it, we certainly told her every chance we got.
We love you, Jojo. We always will.
JoJo had 7 Sponsors
Cheryl Townsend
Amy Juried
Margaret Hollembeak
Connie Cheatham
Linda Vaccari
Cheryl Mitcham
Susan Budge