Josie the calico cat is a ‘friendly kitty’ who’s looking for a forever home

Cats love boxes, often the smaller the better. Perhaps the snugness provides them comfort in our seemingly unpredictable human world.

In Josie’s short life, there have been many reasons to search out boxes.

She arrived at the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter as a young mother with kittens in tow.

Josie had an injured eye that she would ultimately lose. Though this loss poses no health concern, her tear duct continues to weep.

Despite all the hardship she’s endured, Josie has shown herself to be a friendly kitty. Within days of arriving at a foster home, she was purring in her caretaker’s arms.

But a foster home is not forever. Once her kittens were old enough, each joined a new adoptive family and Josie was returned to the shelter to hopefully, one day, be adopted.

Josie is a beautiful, approximately 1-year-old calico who has a profound fear of dogs, which isn’t improved by their proximity at the shelter.

Though her kennel is secure, she seems to be pulling into herself, as if to find an internal box where she feels safe.

Her retreat inward, coupled with her tear-stained face, makes it harder for Josie to find a home.

One way visitors can help Josie feel safe is by making eye contact and then blinking slowly. This slow blinking, in feline communication, indicates peaceful intentions.

Josie longs to step out of the confines of the shelter and, with the help of a loving adopter, discover there’s security outside the box too.

For more information about Josie (ID No. 262124), call the volunteer line at the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter at 805-781-4400 or visit www.slocounty.ca.gov/aserv. The shelter is located at 885 Oklahoma Ave., off Highway 1, in San Luis Obispo.

The full-price adoption fee is $81 for cats and $115 for dogs, plus a $28 county license fee for dogs, if the adopters are San Luis Obispo County residents.

The adoption fee includes a new collar, a spay or neuter operation, basic vaccinations, a microchip and eligibility for a free veterinary check within San Luis Obispo County. Cats also are tested for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus, and adopters receive a carrier.