Bruno the Cat, Rejected for Excessive Affection, Now Highly Sought After

Can a cat ever be ‘too affectionate?’ Well, one family returned an adopted cat, citing that reason. As strange as that is, the story has a very happy outcome.

A buff and white tabby named Bruno became one of the most desirable cats at the Montville Animal Shelter in New Jersey. After a viral social media post, people came out of the woodwork to adopt Bruno. This cat was a sudden star. As a result, the story helped find homes for almost all the cats at the shelter.

So, what made the 2-year-old Bruno such a catch? Nobody could believe it when they found out he was returned to the shelter because his mom found him “too affectionate” to get work done at home.

It wasn’t the first time Bruno returned to the shelter after a child in the first adoptive family developed allergies. But a couple of months later, a mom and child adopted Bruno. That’s when they found Bruno’s tendency to be a cuddly velcro cat a little too much.

The shelter’s Lindsay Persico told local news what happened:

“Persico explained that the mother worked from home, and the cat would constantly headbutt her, making it difficult to get work done. The cat also insisted on sleeping in the young daughter’s bed, which resulted in the latter staying up late to play with the former. So a week later, Bruno was brought back to the shelter.”

So, it seems Bruno was just too darn cuddly and interfering with workflow. First-world problems, anyone? What to do? It just so happens that Cole and Marmalade’s humans know about this predicament very well, so check out our tips for ‘how to survive working with cats” (see our video at the end of this article).

Once back at the shelter, Bruno became depressed, Persico said. She decided to share his story on Facebook, because who could believe someone had returned him for being too friendly? The post reached hundreds of thousands of views, and Bruno went from rejected to the most wanted kitty! Around 50 families applied to adopt Bruno, but as it turns out, another family had already chosen him before the post went viral.

With all the attention Bruno received, the shelter saw a surge of interest.

“People were coming to our door to meet Bruno and we got almost all the cats in the store adopted in the meantime,” she said. “We only have two black cats left in our adoption room. So that was a good response as well,” Persico said.

Hey, if you live in the area, maybe check out those black kitties! Black cats are good luck, you know!

There was so much interest in Bruno, the ‘too-affectionate’ kitty, that NorthJersey.com posted an update on Bruno.

Denville couple Catherine and Andrew had their sights on adopting Bruno before he became a shooting star online. The day before the Facebook post, they had spotted him online on the shelter’s Petfinder and thought he might be the one for them. By the next day, they saw the post go viral and knew they had to act fast. So, they jumped to adopt Bruno.

“It was before the post blew up,” Andrew said of their application. “A few hours later [Catherine] sends me a screenshot of the post with like a thousand shares, freaking out like ‘What if we don’t get him? What if he got too famous?’”

“It was perfect timing,” Catherine said. “We couldn’t have planned it if we tried.”

It was love at first sight as soon as Bruno met the couple.

“He’s very outgoing when you first meet him,” Catherine said. “When we first picked him up he basically crawled into my neck … I think he was very excited to leave the shelter and be held again.”

When Bruno arrived home, he was a little nervous. But before long, his “too affectionate” side came out. He woke them up with his trademark headbutts. But this time, his humans found it adorable. And even better, Catherine loves the kitty so much she worked from home as he adjusted to his new life. Congratulations to Bruno, his forever family, and Montville Animal Shelter New Jersey!