http://www.thegrannieproject.org/

The Grannies, PO Box 1501, Wayne, PA (2026)

11/08/2025

Boo! I’m Moo.

💜*bites*

11/08/2025

One final post on our Granniversary - Kate and Juliet, in their own words from the original 'About' section of our page:

We're a pair of 21-year-old sisters. Yup you read that right - 21 years old. We were just tiny kittens when MC Hammer was cool (thankfully). Being from NYC, we watched the towers crumble and felt the sadness of the world. But every New Years, we felt hope born anew with a really big party in Times Square!

But all of that was before our owner suddenly died. We kept trying to wake him up but we couldn't - no matter how loud we purred. We were so sad and lonely ... and hungry! We couldn't get to our food and no one was there to care for us. We spent each day getting hungrier and hungrier.

Just when we thought we couldn't get hungrier - someone found us. And then next thing we knew, we had food but in a small, cold, metal box. And we were alone!! We missed each other terribly and though we could feel each other nearby, I couldn't see my lifelong friend Juliet, and she couldn't see me.

The place we were in was super scary ... we saw a man with a red cage come and get cats and disappear with them. They screamed and cried when they went in the red cage. And they never came back. I heard someone say it was a 'kill shelter'.

A couple of days later, we heard that we were on "The List". We didn't know what "The List" was but we just knew that it wasn't good. We just laid at the back of our cold cages - waiting for "The List" or the red cage or whatever fate was to befall us.

But then a nice lady came into the room where our cages were. She smelled different - not like the shelter workers. Like a friend. We tried our best to make our emaciated bodies look pretty and young but we didn't need to. As soon as the lady saw how old we were she started crying and told the shelter worker she'd take us.

Well - fast forward a week and we're living in the lap of luxury! There's fresh water all the time, as much yummy food as we can eat, soft beds to sleep in, a lap to lie on ... it would only be better if our owner was there - we loved him a lot. But our foster mommy said she would care for us and find us a place where we can live out our golden years in care and comfort.

Speaking of our golden years ... we went to the vet. We didn't want to but foster mommy said we had to. See, we're extremely thin - under 4.5lbs each. At that weight we'd be banned from a LOT of fashion runways!! Incredibly, the vet said we're pretty healthy! Juliet has a wheezy chest and I have a heart murmur ... other than that, we just need some good food and love.

And we just know that our foster mommy will make sure we get that!

Thanks for reading our story - and liking our page! We just want to get the word out that senior pets - though short on remaining years - have much wisdom, love, and peace to share!

Love,
Granny Kate

11/08/2025

…A couple of weeks after that trip to the kill shelter, I was still so upset by all of the things that I heard and saw that day. Most of my friends were wonderfully supportive - but I also got a lot of grief for saving seniors over kittens…for rescuing from NYC instead of Philly. I just felt like I had to find a way to express myself.

So I started my first ever page and called it simply, The Grannies. That's our very first post below! I can't remember why I decided to write in the voice of Kate and Juliet - it just seemed right.

Over the past decade our page and our fans have shared laughter and tears, and helped with rescues near and far. But most of all, we celebrate senior pets and how wonderful they can be. Think about it. We have over 800,000 fans. If even a small fraction of our fans advocate on behalf of adopting a senior pet, we're doing what we promised Angel and all of the animals we left behind that day.

Kate and Juliet. Two tiny 20-year-old cats abandoned at a kill shelter who happened to find their way off of death row and into the hearts of thousands. We didn't get to enjoy their company nearly long enough - Kate went to Rainbow Bridge just four months after we rescued her, and Juliet a year to the day after her sister. But we are determined to keep their legacy alive.

So thank you to everyone who is a part of The Grannies - whether you joined us ten years or ten days ago. We hope you have enjoyed reading the story of Grannie Kate and Grannie Juliet's gotcha day

There's just one part left to the story …

11/08/2025

…we were finally on our way home with our new little charges!! Three senior cats, three younger cats, and a dog. Phew!

Here's the only photo we have of them all together when we left the shelter - save for Sawyer who got to sit in his carrier in the front seat on my friend's lap in an effort to quell his loud protests! Oh, and the little dog Hayley was tucked into the back seat so as not to scare the kitties.

And so ends the story of one incredible gotcha day for Grannie Kate, Grannie Juliet, Sawyer, Hurley, Penny, Desmond, and Hayley.

But the story *doesn't* really end there ...

11/07/2025

…but we couldn't find her

We looked and looked and the shelter couldn't tell us anything about her. Worse, the more we asked questions, the more we started to feel as if we were jeopardizing being able to take the others.

But where we failed, another incredible lady succeeded! She went to the shelter the next day and found 21-year-old Blossom and took her from the shelter home to an incredible family. They loved Blossom and she was spoiled every moment of the short time she was with them before she went to the Rainbow Bridge. Her time out of the shelter may not have been long, but she was OUT of the shelter and very, very loved.

As for us ...

11/07/2025

~Just joining us? We're celebrating our tenth Grannieversary today - the gotcha day of the Grannies who started it all Juliet and Kate. We're telling the story of their rescue in pieces so read back and stay tuned!~

…It was a large family that came in - mom, grand mom, and children. Clutching three cat carriers. All of them openly weeping. During the ten hours we were at the shelter, we saw people come in to abandon animals they no longer wanted ... cats, small dogs, big dogs. Absolutely broke our hearts. But this family was different. They weren't just surrendering their cats. They were devastated.

Victims of a new housing law that only allowed one pet - and no one was grandfathered in. Understandably, they kept their dog for protection. So the family cats had to go. As if that weren't bad enough, it's shelter policy to charge a surrender fee for each animal - and the family just didn't have the money to pay the fee.

We told them that we would take their cats and find them new homes - I gave them my phone number and email so they could check in too. I wanted them to know their pets would be ok.

So Penny, Desmond, and Hurley joined Sawyer, Kate, Juliet, and little dog Hayley as part of our raggle taggle group! We had quite a full car, but that 21-year-old was still on our minds ...

(Penny passed away several years ago, and Hurley followed a few years after. We don't know if Desmond is still with us - he'd be a very old boy, but it's possible! We are ever grateful to their incredible mamas who gave each of them a forever home and all of the love they could possibly wish for. Rest well little babies ❤️)

11/07/2025

Oh Kate ... our gorgeous little girl Kate. I was almost ready to give up on finding her (not really but I was exhausted and frustrated)! We couldn't find her, and no one seemed to be able to help us.

We decided to start again at the beginning and in the 'unadoptable' room where we found Juliet, at long last, there was our Kate!!! Stunning green eyes ... long fur that was probably gorgeous once, but matted now ... and even tinier and skinnier than Juliet!! All this time we were looking for her, she was three cages to the left of Juliet on the same row! I can't imagine how terrible it must have been for these sisters of 20 years to have been separated - and so close to each other.

We were so excited to have found Kate - only one problem. She had scored poorly on her behavior exam and was 'suggested' as rescue only. And we weren't a rescue (yet). And I didn't know anyone affiliated with a rescue who could've helped us. I burst into tears and begged and pleaded and offered to sign whatever waiver may be necessary, and told them I wasn't leaving with Juliet and not her sister. After all, what damage could a 20-year-old cat really inflict anyway!?

I think they realized I was dead serious and was going to put up one hell of a fight. By some miracle, they gave in. I think just to get rid of us! We were so close to being able to go home with our little treasures. And then a family came in with three cats ...

11/07/2025

After we found Juliet, we went to what seemed like endless rooms of 'unadoptables' looking for her sister Kate. The shelter was zero help. They were extremely understaffed and the staff they did have wasn't keen on helping us find one old lady cat. We didn't have an animal number, or really even a description beyond her age.

We looked and looked for over an hour - finally I needed a break and went outside for a little while. My friend stayed inside and visited the dogs. When I came back in, I saw her cuddling the skinniest, strangest looking dog I've ever seen! And from the look on her face, I knew that the precious little pup was going to join our motley crew and have a forever home with her!

This picture was taken almost a year after her rescue - so she's filled out quite a bit! Hayley's fur is short on the sides, long on the top! For those of you counting - two senior cats and a little dog. But still no Kate ...

11/07/2025

…just across from the cage where Angel had been, was a dirty-faced orange and white boy - Mase!! He was awesome. What a lucky family he was adopted by I looked at every card on every cage trying to find the super seniors - I didn't even know what color fur they had. Just that they were there.

And then there she was.

Twenty year old Juliet - in all her tiny little greybie glory!

We had found her.

Tears of sadness turned to tears of joy as I walked up to her cage and she walked up to me and nuzzled against the bars. She was pure sweetness and I was so happy she would be safe. We just had to find her sister and that 21-year-old…

11/07/2025

…we left Sawyer's room and continued to the next room, then the next. The third room we entered was for the 'unadoptables'. The sick, the old, the injured. These poor souls would never have a chance to be seen by the public and had little to no chance of making it out of the shelter alive.

As we walked in, we startled some shelter workers who held a red metal box up to one of the cages - we thought it was a new arrival getting settled. But the look in their eyes told me otherwise - we weren't supposed to see what we were seeing. They were taking away that beautiful tuxedo cat to be killed. I had to make one of the worst decisions ever. I wanted to grab the red metal box and run from the shelter to carry this sweetheart to safety. But to what end. I probably wouldn't have gotten out of the doors with her and if I had, they would've just been back for someone else anyway.

I kept quiet as they walked away with her, my tears blinding me, vowing to save as many as I could so they would avoid the fate of the red box. I never knew that pretty tuxie's name, but have always thought of her as 'Angel' ❤️

And as it turned out, there was someone special waiting in that room...

11/07/2025

~It's our Grannieversary day - the 'gotcha day' for our Grannie Kate and Grannie Juliet! And this year, we are celebrating XX whole years! If you're just joining us, we're telling the story of their rescue throughout the day. Read back and check later for more!~

…Finding the super seniors was harder than we imagined. We were left to our own devices to navigate the seemingly never-ending rooms of animals waiting for someone to come for them. As we passed through the first room, despite all efforts otherwise, a stunning Russian Blue and I locked eyes. And his bright green eyes were about all I could see! He was tucked against the back wall of his cage on the bottom row, adopted from the shelter at four years old and just returned at seven for no good reason.

We continued on to try to find the others, but I couldn't get this greybie out of my mind. And so Sawyer joined our little rescue brigade!

Once he arrived home, his personality blossomed and he was just the sweetest thing - super social and loved attention. Not long after we brought him home, he found his forever home with an amazing family. Sadly a couple of winters ago, he developed lymphoma and sadly went to Rainbow Bridge just after the New Year.

So here's to you Sawyer / Blu - from an uncertain fate at a kill shelter to totally spoiled by your very own family and loved til the end. We all loved you old boy ❤️

And then...

11/07/2025

…so about that old orange and white blind kitty. The day before, I saw a post on Facebook from a 'death row' rescue page with the saddest face I'd ever seen. I had been thinking about getting a third cat and well, little 15-year-old Mase (pictured below) was going to be the one. I called and called and called the number for the shelter and when I finally got through, the woman on the other end of the line told me I had to come to the shelter in person, the next morning by 8am.

Once the shelter opened, I put my name on the sign in sheet with his A #. This ensured that he wouldn't be euthanized. And then we sat and waited. And waited. Because adoptions didn't open until noon. And we couldn't leave the building or they would kill him.

We saw a lot of comings and goings in those four hours - some people looking for lost pets, a kind man in a nice car who dropped off a pallet of food and supplies for the shelter animals, and far too many animals being surrendered. Mostly pit bulls. It was a very sad four hours.

Noon came and the same person at the front desk whom had been sitting across from us for those four hours, told us that Mase was spoken for by a rescue. They gave us the option of adopting him anyway or letting him go to rescue.

But from the death row page, I knew there were also two 20-year-olds and a 21-year-old in danger, so we let Mase go to rescue (we heard later he was adopted by a nice family). Now we just had to find those super seniors ...

The Grannies

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