Zoe relaxing outside on my deck. She was an indoor cat but would venture out to take in the sun on the deck.
I adopted Zoe from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) in March of 2012 shortly after I retired. Her name means "life" in Greek. She indeed gave me new life! In fact, during the summer of 2013 she may have saved my life. For a period of about three weeks she started spending an unusual amount of time in the downstairs bedroom watching the bed. She would stare at it all day, walking around the sides and occasionally checking under it. I thought this was extremely odd because she always spent time with me upstairs. I checked under the bed to see if there was something there but never saw anything. (It's a trundle bed so the bottom mattress is very close to the floor) Then one day I heard a loud noise and ran into the room. Zoe was swatting a tail that was protruding from under her cat bed. I couldn't tell what type of a creature it was. I thought perhaps a rat. Ultimately my very kind neighbor came over to help me. He scooped up Zoe's bed, grabbing whatever was under it in the center with it, shoved it all into a large box which he took outside. Upon unveiling Zoe's cushioned bed from the box we saw a 2-foot long snake! Critter Control came later and believed it to be a cottonmouth poisonous snake! They determined the snake got into the bedroom from a torn screen in the window. Because the snake had been living under the bed for over three weeks with no food or water it didn't have the energy to bite her or come upstairs. Zoe was my Guardian Angel that summer and I am grateful that the snake did not hurt her either!
In October 2016 Zoe died of intestinal cancer. In May of this year I started volunteering to foster kittens from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. Over the last two years I have also hand painted/ decorated numerous pet carrier boxes for the AWLA to be given to families taking home a new pet during the holidays.
— Roseann Mangano