Cassie's 15 minutes of fame

Fifty Plus magazine photographed Cassie, my 5-year-old calico cat, and me for a cover story about the Richmond SPCA's Seniors for Seniors adoption program.

Cassie seems to have become the poster kitty for the Richmond SPCA's innovative Seniors for Seniors program.

She's on the cover this month of Fifty Plus, a monthly magazine aimed at those of us who have attained a certain age, and pictures of her were featured this week on a segment of WTVR TV's "Virginia This Morning." (Click here to see the segment.)

I adopted Cassie from the SPCA in March. She's my fourth SPCA cat -- filling the space left by the late Pusskuss (1970-1990), Boo (1990-2007), and Atticus (1990-2009). I knew I wanted to adopt an adult cat this time, but I hadn't heard about the Seniors for Seniors program before I started exploring the SPCA website. It's a new program that matches those 65 and older with pets who are 5 and older.

Fortunately for me, a volunteer with the Seniors for Seniors program was on hand one morning last spring to fill me in and help with the adoption. I had already taken the SPCA's Meet Your Match online survey. It's a Web-based questionnaire that helps people find the pet that suits them best. It uses color-coded categories. I wanted an affectionate lap-cat, so the survey results suggested I look for one in the orange category. (There are also purple and green categories.) The website has pictures and descriptions of cats in each category.

It didn't take long for me to spot Cassie in a cage with an orange label. After spending about a half hour with her and the Seniors for Seniors volunteer in a private playroom furnished with cat toys and a comfortable sofa, I knew I had met my match.

Because the Seniors program was so new, a volunteer photographer from the SPCA's PR department took pictures of Cassie and me as we got to know one another that morning. A few weeks later, I got a call from an SPCA public relations representative asking if I would appear on Channel 6 to talk about the program. A week or so later, I got another call asking if I would talk to a reporter for Fifty Plus.

Make no mistake: I suffer under no delusions that the sudden flurry of publicity has anything at all to do with me. It's all about Cassie. She's an engaging and intelligent cat. She's beautiful, with her orange, black and white coat and her big green eyes. And she photographs well.

But it hasn't been all fun and games for Cassie. She's had an upper respiratory tract infection that gives her sneezing fits ever since the SPCA rescued her back in January from the Chesterfield Animal Shelter. She's since been on every antibiotic in the book -- some twice. They work for a couple of weeks, and then the sneezing starts up again.

After trying every remedy and test she could think of, my vet referred us to a kitty internal-medicine specialist. After a lengthy consultation and examination this week, the specialist said she thinks it's most likely that Cassie has a foreign body lodged somewhere in her nasal passages. It could be something she sniffed in at some time in the past. Cassie now faces another round of antibiotics to clear up the infection again and then a rhinoscopy and more cultures and biopsies.

Like a good poster kitty, Cassie is facing both her new fame and her medical problems like a trooper. And despite all of that, she manages to charm everybody she meets.