Thanks for Finding my Cat at Home Depot; Want to Keep Him?

In Oakland Township, the phrase "finders, keepers" seems to apply to household pets lately.

Much like the parakeet owner in last week's Patch story "Thanks for Finding My Bird; Want to Keep Him?," the owners of Coyote the cat – who was presumed dead until he was a year after he disappeared – have asked the Home Depot employee who tried to adopt Coyote whether he wants to keep the cat after all.

Earlier this month, Oakland Township resident and Home Depot employee Jeff York was hoping to adopt Coyote (or Skittles, as he had come to be known at the store) with his wife, Kellie, when they took the cat to the for a pre-adoption checkup.

During the checkup, however, a veterinarian at the center discovered a microchip implanted in the cat; that afternoon, Coyote was reunited with his family.

But the Strohscheins, the Lake Orion family who'd had Coyote since he was a kitten, had acquired a new cat since Coyote had run away last summer, and the two felines didn't exactly get along.

"Skittles went back to his old routine at the Strohscheins', but their new kitty would actually hunt for Skittles around the house and attack him," said Kellie York. "They had to keep Skittles in a bathroom for his own safety."

York said a member of the Strohschein family recently contacted her through Facebook to ask whether the Yorks were "still interested in providing a loving home" for Coyote. The Yorks, of course, said yes.

The Yorks, who have been married for 22 years, have already rescued eight animals, not including Skittles. Skittles will join two German shepherds, one German shepherd/Labrador mix, a golden retriever, two cats, a Goffin cockatoo and a peach-fronted conure as the newest member of the York family.

"He's doing wonderful and has taken over our master suite and is putting the dogs in their place," York said.