Benton the cat had a hard-luck beginning, but became so famous he had an entire building at Best Friends named in his honor.
Benton's family decided to move without him. Not quite believing they planned on leaving him behind, Benton traipsed through the streets looking for his people. Instead he found a car speeding toward him. When he woke up, at Best Friends, Benton felt like had had been broken all over.
His story made all the Best Friends newsletters and his progress was followed closely by all our members. He made a nearly full recovery with the exception of a club foot.
In 1994, Benton lived with the general cat population at Best Friends. Around the same time, the founders had scraped enough money together to build a new cat building. When it was finished in May 1995, they all agreed Benton should live there. And while they were at it, they decided to name the building after him.
People all over the country celebrated the opening of Benton's House. As the story goes, founder Steven Hirano sent out a special newsletter inviting all the Best Friends members to come out and celebrate the grand opening of Benton's House, a place that would eventually come to be known as the place for "slightly disabled cats."
About 150 people made the trek to Best Friends for the celebration. Others sent housewarming gifts of blankets, towels, toys and cat food. One couple from Sweden sent a package of smoked salmon to give to Benton - their idea of a prefect gift because it was their cat's favorite food.
It was during this celebration that Best Friends co-founder Jana de Peyer made an observation: Many people were looking to adopt special needs cats, just like Benton. Co-founder Anne Mejia said she had been receiving similar queries. And so Benton's House became a special new place for special cats in need.
Written by Amy Abern
Photo by Gary Kalpakoff
Posted
Aug 24 2009, 08:09 AM
by
amyAbern