The night before a snowstorm, Imgur user Spamwisejamkey heard on the radio that his local shelter was looking for people to take their animals home either temporarily or permanently. The soldier has always loved dogs, and so he headed over to the shelter to find his new best friend.
When the soldier got to the shelter, the shelter staff told him that all the dogs had been re-homed. But they still had cats who were looking for homes.
Spamwisejamkey had never thought of himself as a cat person, but he agreed to meet the shelter cats. The staff member took him into the cat room, and he spotted a tiny tortoiseshell kitten named Marbles. He opened her cage, and the kitten started meowing excitedly. He picked her up, and she pushed her face into the brim of his cap. His heart melted.
Spamwisejamkey immediately fell in love with this kitten, and it was clear she loved him back!
“I’m not a cat guy, but I guess you could say I’m a cat guy,” Spamwisejamkey wrote on Imgur.
Spamwisejamkey adopted Marbles, and he renamed the little kitten Barb. He explained why he chose the name on his Imgur page:
“She got her name because I thought it would just be funny to be on the phone with someone and yell ‘GET OFF THE TABLE BARB!!!’
Barb immediately settled into her new dad’s house. She spent her days hanging out by the window, sleeping in a sunbeam. When her dad was home, she loved hanging out on his shoulder.
Six months after Spamwisejamkey adopted Barb, he ended up adopting a puppy named Rupert. Barb was a great big sister to Rupert—she loved cuddling with the pup, but she also wasn’t afraid to show him who was the boss!
Rupert and Barb spend their days napping together and hanging out with their dad. Both animals absolutely love their dad!
It has now been two years since Spamwisejamkey adopted Barb and Rupert, and the cat and dog are both still loving life with their dad. Their family has also grown again—Barb and Rupert now share their house with Spamwisejamkey’s fiancee’s cats, Bruce and Joe. All four animals get along well, and Barb is the undisputed matriarch of the clan.
In August 2018, Spamwisejamkey and his fiancee added another animal to their home: a stray dog named Ellie Mae.
“Literally a week ago she walked up to my fiancé and I as we were packing up our uhaul to move. She was skinny, malnourished, dehydrated, hungry, and as sweet as a snicker. Welcome to our family sweet pea!!! We are so excited to give you a deserving place,” he wrote.
When Spamwisejamkey arrived at the animal shelter, he could have never guessed he would be going home with a little cat! If you’d like to see more photos of Barb and her friends, check out Spamwisejamkey’s Imgur page.
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