October Rescued Spotlight: Magoo

Meows from Mudpie!

Over the last several months we've been telling you about Rescued: The Stories of 12 Cats, Through Their Eyes, an anthology of rescue cat stories compiled by Janiss Garza, who writes the Sparkle Cat blog. Each author featured in the book has nominated a cat rescue and was assigned a month to promote the book, with a third of the profits from that month going to their rescue.

October's spotlight is Magoo, a handsome mancat who was saved from the streets and ended up inspiring his mom to become an amazing rescuer of thousands of cats. I couldn't help myself...I lost control and even got a bit flirty with him!

After you finish reading our interview, make sure you visit Magoo on Facebook and on his blog!

Welcome Magoo! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today! Could you start by introducing us to yourself and telling us what made your story such a good fit for the Rescued anthology?

I am Magoo. Mom calls me a misfit, but I am actually the Katfather of my Kingdom. Which means I'm in charge. This is pretty much how it's been since Mom adopted me 14 years ago from Bay Area Humane Society in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Before then I was on the streets. Apparently a Good Samaritan didn't think a life on the streets would be a good idea for me so they rescued me. Then Mom rescued me too by adopting me. I guess I inspired her to rescue more kitties, but on a larger scale. Since she adopted me she's started three animal rescues. So the fact that I was rescued, then inspired Mom to rescue lots more kitties, made my story a good fit. Plus I'm amazingly handsome. So there's that too.

At the beginning of your story you were embarrassed by a flea bath at the shelter because there were some "fine-looking tortie felines" that you wanted to impress. Well I'm a fine-looking tortie lady and I am *very* impressed by you! Are you interested?

I get that a lot. Due to my handsomeness. You can't help it, I don't blame you. But since I have so many feline admirers, I have to remain single, just to be fair to all the ladycats. But I will admit, you are one of the finest tortie felines I've seen in a loooooong time. ;)

You inspired your mom to become involved in animal welfare. Can you tell us about some of the amazing work she does?

Shortly after she adopted me, Mom started taking pictures and posting adoptable pets on petfinder.com for our local humane society. She did a lot of stuff they call "marketing" for them too. Then after she went down to help homeless kitties after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she came back and started Saving Paws Animal Rescue, which was a little shelter. She saved lots of kitties and dogs and then she and some friends started Orphan Animal Rescue & Sanctuary, which was a foster-home-based rescue, so she could save even more kitties, and dogs, too. Then about a year and a half ago she started Valley Cats, which only saves homeless cats and kittens, since there is such a big need for that in our area. She calls me their "mascat" since I'm a good representation of a rescue cat - pulled off the streets from a precarious situation, nursed to health and adopted into a loving family.

The rescue you've chosen to receive your proceeds from the book this month is Valley Cats Cat & Kitten Rescue. What important work do they do for homeless cats?

So Mom is a sucker for helping homeless kitties, as you probably picked up on. A lot of times, she hears about kitties who are on the "euthanasia" list at shelters. She won't tell me what that means but I think it's something sad because she's always sad when she says that word. So she offers to help these shelters by taking these kitties into her rescue, Valley Cats. Mom and some of her friends who she calls "foster homes" take care of the kitties. A lot of the time they need to be nursed back to health. Good thing I taught Mom all about all the possible health conditions a cat could get, because now she knows how to take care of sick kitties pretty good! Anyways once they're healthy she puts them up for adoption and finds forever families for them. So like she did for me, only with other people.

What's life like for you today?

My favorite pastime is sleeping. I am 14 years old, which is like, 72 human years, after all. But if Mom brings out the wand toy, looooookout! I am still an excellent hunter and can leave a trail of conquered mousies like the best of the coolcats. I also spend a lot of time just being handsome and basking in my awesomeness. It's a hard life, but what can I say.

What would you like humans to learn from your story and what do you want your lasting legacy to be?

I'd like humans to realize how awesome rescue cats are. Especially the misfits who get overlooked. And also to recognize how many homeless cats and kittens are out there in need of help. If my story inspires even one human to help a shelter or rescue save the life of one homeless kitty, all my time toiling away writing was worth it.

Phew. Done. Mom, where's the catnip?

Photos used with permission: Emily Anderson