There are a variety of furry ones, big and small, who share their lives with us here at the Good Place.
These are the ones most likely to get adopted into wonderful, loving, forever homes so the mix changes pretty often. But here are a few of their stories:
Skittles and Dior
Skittles came from a home where she was once seemed to be a loved little pet of one of the children in the family. However, as so often happens as kids grow up she became forgotten and had to fend for herself. She was rescued one day when she was found alone under the bed without food or water. She has been at the Good Place ever since.
Dior came from a hoarding situation where a lone person had kept dozens and dozens of guinea pigs together and over time they’d just kept increasing. Did you know that it’s not unusual for one little guinea pig girl to have between 50 – 150 babies in her lifetime if no responsible human is their to prevent it.
Dior was rescued, along with many others by Little Miracles, another rescue working tirelessly for the many lost souls that come their way.
Since arriving here at the Good Place with her best buddy Abbey (who sadly is no longer with us, having succumbed to cancer two years after their arrival) Dior has become firm friends with Skittles and the two are never to be found more than 20 cm away from each other – who knows, perhaps that’s a long way from the perspective of a guinea pig.
Annie and Pumpkin
Annie and Pumpkin are trouble makers, or to put it another way, they are goats. Anyone who knows goats, knows that really they pretty much do whatever they want, whenever they want, and it is only due to their self-determined courtesy that they deign to stay within the boundaries of whatever fence you put them behind.
Nevertheless, Annie and Pumpkin are gorgeous, loving girls who many of the sheep are both terrified of and dote on in equal measure.
Annie came to the Good Place as a tiny little orphan kid smaller than my laptop. She did not let that stop her though – from her first day through the door she has taken life by her horns and lived it to the fullest.
Coincidently, not long after Annie had settled in, we became aware of a second little goat without a family or home to call her own, and quickly set about collecting her.
Pumpkin was slightly older than Annie and sadly had learnt to mistrust humans early on. It took many, many months to convince her that humans can be friends not foes, and even today, several years later, she will not let a stranger anywhere near her.
Zoe and Neo
Zoe and Neo are the Good Place guardians – it simply is not possible to get close to the gate to the sanctuary without Neo letting the whole world know you are there. No matter, if you are human, cat, kangaroo or dog – he treats everyone equally – with great excitement and lots of noise.
Zoe is neo’s opposite, quiet, naturally well behaved and really doesn’t care much for the role of guardian – much preferring a quiet spot by the fire or on the couch.
Layla, Barry, Greg, Oops, Evie, Harry and Nala
Of course, we should never forget the Good Place bed warmers. They all come with their own unique story and a completely different personality to the rest. Together though they make up a wonderfully disrespectful and self-absorbed clan of cats.
Layla is a beautiful, though elderly girl. She was discarded by her owners at 14 years old, found on the street alone and scared but microchipped. On being contacted by the vet where she was handed in by a kind hearted stranger, her people told the vet they hadn’t seen her for years and to put her down she was not wanted anymore. Instead the vet contacted a local cat rescue, who went on the search for someone to take her in – and here she is. Old and frail these days, she is none the less respected by the other cats and takes pride of place on the bed each night.
Barry is the old man of the sanctuary. A few years younger than Layla and much larger, he is nevertheless quiet frail these days and spends 95% of his time sleeping soundly in the warmest spot he can find indoors. Barry has been with the sanctuary since his earliest days, around 16 years ago. Some days it seems he may be here for the next 16 years too.
Greg is a younger lad, only 6-7 years old. He’s quite beautiful and believes himself to be a tough guy, but is in fact a total scaredy-cat, who only fights out of fear and will always run when anyone stands up to him.
Oops is a gorgeous girl who found herself on a horse float sent to rescue horses from the sale years in Mildura and transported to the horse rescue several hours away as a very young kitten. From there she found herself at the Good Place, when after seeing her when visiting the ponies I just couldn’t say no to taking someone home with me – oops!
Evie is a very beautiful girl who was found on the roadside as a tiny 4-5 week old kitten next to her dead sibling. Evie is a true feral cat who has never really become a fan of humans – and who could blame her really. She is comfortable with those she knows and loves to run up to say hello to her fellow Good Place residents, but otherwise will rarely be seen by visitors to the sanctuary.
Harry was found, along with his sister, as teeny tiny 2-3 week old kittens in a barn on a farm near Horsham. WIth no mum in sight they were bundled up and shortly thereafter arrived here at the Good Place. Harry is a total sook – though Evie pretty much taught him everything he knows, he loves all humans and would happily spend the whole day greeting new friends and potential cuddlers.
Nale is the most recent of the Good Place cats. She came from a home where she had spent her first few years largely ignored by the person she lived with and having had very, very little socialisation. It took Nala many months to begin to trust the hand that fed her every morning at the Good Place. She has never befriended the rest of the cats at the Good Place, though she is unfazed by all other species she encounters. These days, while still aloof, she happily follows her resident human around the sanctuary, often walking the whole of the 20 acre block saying hello to everyone on a lazy sunny morning.
