JR had always been allergic to cats and claimed not to be a “cat person.” But when he started dating his girlfriend Rachel, she already had one cat, the skittish Wylee. Miraculously, JR was not allergic to him. Rachel loves animals and would have easily adopted lots more, but JR made it clear that he didn’t want Rachel to become “the crazy cat lady” with tons of cats. But in 2008, Rachel and JR were in Brooklyn meeting a potential PUPP client (Rachel is the founder of PUPP; she and JR are both on the board). The client had two cats, and JR made a comment that “Wylee could really use a friend.” Coincidentally, walking back to the subway that night, they found a cute, dirty, crooked-tailed kitten. Rachel says, “He was injured, and the only thing we could do was rescue this poor kitty (we carried him home in an empty Colt 45 box we found at a bodega).  We had no intention of keeping him, but after seeing how affectionate he was and seeing how well he got along with Wylee, we realized we couldn’t let him go.” They named him Milo, and JR – who still pretends sometimes that he’s not a “cat person” (Sorry, JR. I have lots of photo evidence and eyewitness testimony to the contrary) – plays with Milo all the time, and when Milo cuddles with Rachel, JR gets jealous and tries to lure Milo away and over to him!

This is Phil and Prada, one of the four cats Phil and Cindy have in their household.

Cindy brought back four cats from Indonesia in 2008 – Prada, Vuitty (both named after famous designers), Abe, and Gila (which means “crazy” in Indonesian). After being rescued from the lives of street cats, these four cats “all now live the life of luxury in our house with many great sleeping spots” according to Cindy. She says Gila is so attached to Phil that she cries at the window when he is outside and will run to greet him when he comes home.

Cindy says she’s thankful that “Phil was generous enough to welcome me into his house with my beautiful Indonesian furniture AND my four cats!” Sounds like he is lucky to have such a wonderful, caring partner who would rescue four cats and give them a great home!