Shy Tabby Tommi, Longtime Shelter Resident Looking For A Home: Huntington Adoptable Pet Of The Week

HUNTINGTON, NY — Tommi, a 3½-year-old dark tabby with bright gold eyes and white paws, is the Grateful Paw Cat Shelter’s Huntington Pet of the Week. She has spent more than two years at the East Northport shelter after arriving from a difficult multi-cat situation, according to Debbi Larkin, president of the rescue.

Larkin said Tommi came from “an unfortunate situation where she and fifteen other cats were kept together in a single room, with little space and even fewer chances to learn what it felt like to be safe.” Tommi arrived at the shelter in April 2023 with two siblings; one was adopted quickly, but another (Lulu) is still there.

She was extremely fearful at first. In Larkin’s words, Tommi “was frightened, unsure, and so shy that it took weeks of quiet voices, gentle movements, and patient hearts for her to begin to trust that she was finally somewhere safe.”

Even now, new people and sounds overwhelm her.

“Tommi is selective about the people she chooses to approach, but when she chooses you, it feels like a gift,” Larkin said.

Volunteers have learned her routines and quirks. Tommi loves curling up in cubbies with other cats, greeting staff at the door each day, and serving as the room’s “official taste tester.” Her favorite spot is the top of the cat condo — “her personal lookout tower,” Larkin said — where she watches birds and squirrels with great focus. She enjoys springs, toy balls and wand toys, which turn her into “a graceful little acrobat.”

But Larkin said the long wait for a home has taken a toll. “Tommi isn’t as outgoing as she used to be… her confidence is waning,” she said. After 2½ years of watching other cats get adopted, “she’s begun to fade back into the background, overlooked again and again.”

Larkin said volunteers sometimes catch Tommi sitting with her eyes squeezed shut, “almost as if she’s borrowed a line from The Wizard of Oz: ‘Close your eyes… click your paws three times… there’s no place like home.’”

Tommi is fully vetted, spayed, up to date on vaccines, parasite-free, litter-box trained, and FELV/FIV negative, the shelter said. She does well with other cats and would benefit from having a feline companion. She has no experience with dogs.

“Tommi isn’t the cat who runs into your arms right away,” Larkin said. “She is the one who watches, hopes, and slowly decides, ‘maybe this person is mine.’ And when she chooses you, it is because she feels safe. Because she believes in you and because you waited back for her.”

Tommi is available at the Grateful Paw Cat Shelter, located at 3 Verleye Avenue, East Northport. Hours are Tuesday–Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m., with Thursday evening hours from 7 to 9 p.m. by appointment. Those interested may call 631-757-4517, email cats@laphuntington.org, visit the shelter’s Facebook page, or stop in during open hours.

“Tommi has been patient for a long time,” Larkin said. “Now she needs someone patient for her. Someone who is gentle. Someone who is kind… someone who understands that shy cats aren’t broken — they are simply waiting for the right heart to unfold.”