Sally finally gets a home

SANDUSKY — If you pay attention to the weekly adoptable cat listings in the Register, you might notice that a familiar name is finally missing. Sally has found a home after waiting for 609 days inside the Humane Society of Erie County. Her long stay at the Sandusky-based shelter was unusual, humane society director Melissa Gundlach said. "If it's not a record, it's darn close," Gundlach said. Sally is a female black cat who's 3 ½ years old. Although a "great" cat, she is a bit shy and apparently did not present well to visitors, often going back inside her cage, Gundlach said. She also did not seem to particularly enjoy other cats. Marissa Collingwood, a shelter manager who submits the weekly cat descriptions that appear in the Register, wrote glowing biographies for Sally. One described her as an "independent little lady." "She has so much love to give and simply needs a friend who will appreciate her unique personality. We adore Sally and hope her forever family is out there waiting for her, too," Collingwood wrote. After Sally had been in the shelter for more than a year, Collingwood had had enough and decided to make a determined effort. She featured Sally every week in the cat listings. Sally disappeared one week when a family expressed interest but returned to the weekly listings when the adoption was never completed. Finally, a woman who had previously adopted a shelter cat and lost the cat to cancer in the spring came forward on Wednesday. "She actually saw Sally in the Register and couldn't stop thinking about her," Gundlach said. Another shelter patron had paid Sally's adoption fee in an effort to help Sally find a home. But the woman who adopted Sally wasn't told there was no fee until the decision to adopt had been made, Gundlach said. The shelter wants cats to be adopted out of love, not because they are a bargain, Gundlach explained. Sally likely will need some time to get used to having an actual home. "The new owner understands that," Gundlach said.