Sweet Dexter spent the first year of his life waiting for his forever home. After several months at one of our partner shelters in the south, he was transported to ARRI for a better chance at finding his family. We knew immediately that he was a sweet boy, but he was also a shy guy who hid under his bed most of the day and always when a stranger came into our cat room. Adopters had a hard time believing there was a cat in his cage – which was fine by Dexter, since he was too scared to meet them.
Fortunately, he felt safe with one of our volunteers. When she entered the room, he would call to her from the front of his cage and happily accept pets, play, and food – but only from her. Over time, she was able to take him out of his cage – but only in her arms. He was never willing to venture to the floor. Dexter had chosen her, we all knew.
But she already had a feline family of her own—three beloved boys whose adoption had prompted her to volunteer. It was her way of showing thanks for the joy they brought into her life. She’d worked with hundreds of cats over a dozen years without adopting a single one. Her feline family was complete.
Then her Brady got sick. Very sick. And she had to say good-bye. “It happens,” she’ll say as she chokes back tears. “It’s the contract we sign when we agree to bring an animal into our lives and love them.” She didn’t plan to get another cat. With two senior guys at home, she didn’t think it would be fair.
But there was Dexter. Hiding from strangers. Greeting her when she entered the room. Settling into her arms like a baby.
“I’m taking him home,” she said one day to no one’s surprise. We prepared the paperwork, but it only confirmed what we already knew: she was Dexter’s person.
She likes to think Brady had something to do with it—that, in whatever mysterious way animals communicate with each other, he told Dexter to wait, to hide from potential adopters and be patient, that there would soon be room for him in her heart and in her home. “I may be wrong,” she says. “But it’s nice to think about it this way.”
Dexter is now living the good life with his new family. When he’s not following his older brothers around, he loves playing with toy mice, curling up in front of a Patriots game, and watching the sunrise: all things Brady loved to do. “He brought joy back into our lives,” his person says. “Meow,” Dexter agrees.
We’re thrilled to have Dexter as our 2026 mascot and wish him a lifetime of happy memories with his new family!
