Odd couple finds happy ending in ‘furever’ home

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This article was published 02/06/2023 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cats and dogs don’t normally make for best friends, but sometimes opposites attract.

Such was the case with Scooby and Siren, a cat and dog pair at the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter. Both animals started life off on a difficult foot, er, paw.

“Scooby came in in really, really horrific condition. He had hardly any hair on him… you could count every rib on him. He was in rough condition, but he sure made a beautiful recovery,” says Carla Martinelli-Irvine, executive director of the shelter.

Siren was taken in as part of a litter of six kittens, but even though all his siblings were adopted, he wasn’t.

Scooby arrived at the shelter in September 2022, while Siren arrived in December. By the time Siren showed up, Scooby was ready to be adopted.

Both animals were lonely. After being introduced to each other, they instantly bonded.

“This was the first time I’ve taken a cat and put it in a room with a dog… We put them in there… and it was just instant love. They would curl up next to each other and sleep together.”

The shelter tried desperately for eight months to adopt the two animals as a pair, not wanting to split them up, but without success.

“We had many people coming in for them, but they didn’t want the pair. They either wanted Scooby or they wanted Siren.”

Eventually, the decision was made to adopt the two out individually since it would be better for them to find loving “furever” homes individually than spend the rest of their lives in the shelter.

The shelter posted a video to Instagram and Facebook and it took off like wildfire. Within an hour, it was shared more than 1,000 times on Facebook, and even more than that on Instagram.

A deluge of offers poured in, which Martinelli-Irvine attributes to the video having reached such a large audience.

Although offers came from across the country, ultimately the duo was adopted by a young couple from Winnipeg, Frances Halas and Jordan Bowman.

Halas said Scooby and Siren came to her attention via the Instagram post and that as soon as she showed it to her partner, the two of them were smitten.

“It’s something we were planning for the future. I don’t know that we were planning for it this quickly, but we just couldn’t let the pair be split up.”

Halas says they were not only willing, but eager to take both pets and that their home is pet-friendly.

She says the animals have quickly adjusted to their new surroundings and have been cuddling on the couch and playing together.

Graham.McDonald@freepress.mb.ca