When Leslie Cooper lost two of her cats to cancer in 2013, she was devastated.
Her remaining cat was lonely, and Cooper decided to adopt another cat. But unfortunately, none were available. Unsuccessful in her search, she heard about the Good Mews Animal Foundation, a non-profit cage free cat shelter from her next-door neighbor.
The neighbor’s daughter was a regular volunteer there and when he told Cooper it was a cage-free cat shelter, she was shocked.
“I came to Good Mews in 2013 looking to adopt and I never left,” Cooper said.
Cooper started volunteering for daily care. She worked the days that the shelter needed more people for the shifts.
It wasn’t just daily care when Cooper worked, she also started volunteering for the different fundraising events for Good Mews.
Cooper was around so much that she started learning all the names of all the cats, their different personalities and temperaments. Her presence within the shelter eventually caught the eye of the Kitty Buddy committee lead at the time.
“The committee lead for Kitty Buddy talked to me on one of the days I was there, and she told me about Kitty Buddy and once I joined it, there wasn’t a day I didn’t tell her or her husband how it changed my life,” Cooper said.
Cooper wasn’t looking to be in a leading position when she started volunteering at Good Mews.
When the last Kitty Buddy lead passed away from pancreatic cancer, Cooper was promoted as the new committee lead.
Over the years Cooper accomplished a lot at the shelter. She started walking the overweight cats so they could lose weight, published several stories about Good Mews, and she eventually took charge of the Cat Pawsitive program which became a branch of Kitty Buddy.
In 2019, television host and cat trainer Jackson Galaxy gave a grant to Good Mews for Cat Pawsitive, a training program for cats to learn different tricks so they are more approachable to humans.
Cat Pawsitive didn’t only help humans who were afraid of cats, but the program helped the shy cats to come out of their shell.
Cho is a tabby that came to Good Mews from Calhoun County in a local cat colony. He was skittish. Cho observed the cats at Cat Pawsitive perform tricks for treats and he wanted to be part of that program. One day Cho came up to Cooper and did his first ever high five.
“I almost cried when Cho first walked up and I swear his little paw was shaking as he high fived me,” Cooper said.
Lisa Bass is a fellow volunteer at Good Mews where she has volunteered for nine years. Eight years ago, she became friends with Cooper when she came to Good Mews. Over the years of Bass’ friendship with Cooper, she learned first-hand how Cooper benefits the shelter when it comes to adoptions.
“I do adoptions as well. If I need to know about a cat, I usually reach out to her. She spends a lot of time with the cats, and I think she’s a big asset because of that,” Bass said.
Another friend of Cooper’s is Heather Hart, a vet tech at Good Mews who has known Cooper for eight years. As a vet tech Hart is often at Good Mews to take care of all medical needs.
“Leslie helps all around the shelter but specifically she interacts with the cats…She also helps our overweight cats by taking them on walks,” Hart said.
These cats are often overweight from their previous homes or just from overeating at the shelter due to free feeding.
Cooper has touched so many hearts from volunteering at Good Mews. The other volunteers have their own favorite story of her.
“My favorite story of her is when I first started seeing her walk Winnie up and down the stairs and hallways, she is so positive, patient, and kind,” Hart said.
Volunteer Lisa Bass had a different favorite moment. It involved the other cats in the Cat Pawsitive program that Cooper manages.
“My favorite story is when she started the Cat Pawsitive program. It is watching her walk in the room and all the cat pawsitive cats just start running up to her,” Bass said.
