Jill Young wasn’t looking for another pet when she heard Voodoo the one-eyed black kitten’s story, but she knew what she had to do at that very moment.
The Des Allemands native gave him a home.
“The St. Charles Humane Society and the shelter staff spread the news that Voodoo needed a home,” said Society President Jackie Boudreaux. “Weeks went by and no home was found for Voodoo.”
Found as a kitten, the cat was a stray near a chemical plant and brought to the parish’s animal shelter, Boudreaux said. His left eye was injured, but veterinarian Jena Troxler had to remove it when she determined it could not be saved.
This was a problem because Boudreaux said pets with issues are often passed over for adoption even though they typically make great pets. It appeared little Voodoo might be among them.
But that’s when this black cat’s luck changed.
The kitten was among rescued animals the Humane Society brings to PetSmart to find “forever homes.” One of the volunteers that day was Young’s daughter, Mallory, who called to say the black cat her mother always wanted was available.
Young saw the cat and his missing eye, and heard Boudreaux’s concern about finding him a home.
“I thought, ‘I can’t let that happen,’” she said. “I just couldn’t think of him being put to sleep.”
What sealed the deal was Voodoo’s reaction to Young.
The typically fearful feline suddenly cuddled up to her, put his head on her shoulder and started purring.
“He just made his way into my heart,” Young said.
By that afternoon, Voodoo was purring at her parents’ home in Des Allemands, where Young’s staying until she buys a house. Her parents weren’t wild about her first rescue cat, Ollie, and a second one came as a bigger surprise. But Voodoo has been working his magic on them, too, and now she suspects they will miss him when they leave.
The cat is still adjusting to new surroundings and people, but Young said there are times now he’s so at home that he rolls over and offers his stomach for some petting.
“At first, he had trouble judging distance,” she said. “He would go to jump on one thing or another, and sometimes he wouldn’t make it. He would bump into things, but now he plays with Ollie.”
Young has been so impressed with Voodoo that when her daughter again announced that she’d found a one-eyed Siamese cat up for adoption in Thibodaux that she asked for information about him. Someone else adopted him first. While it was a disappointment, she was happy he got a home.
And she will continue looking for another cat with any kind of handicap because she is willing to care for them.
“Actually, it makes me feel more for them,” Young said of caring for animals with special needs. “I want to give a home to an animal that needs a home.”
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