Marine Finds Pet Was Busy on the Home Front

Just back from the Gulf War, Camp Pendleton-based Marine Cpl. Jako Reed was reunited three days ago with his wife, Nancy, and infant son, David.

All that remained Sunday was to pick up the family pet, Hobbes the cat, who had waited out the war with a Carlsbad foster care family, delivered there through a novel North County pet-care plan for war-bound Marines and sailors.

Surprise, surprise. Hobbes, it turned out, had delivered, too: three mewing kittens.

Not quite what the North County Humane Society had counted on when it began its foster program, said Sharon Zupancic, a society spokeswoman. Foster hosts agreed to take care of a cat or dog--as in one animal--for the duration of the war. Owners were asked to pay for pet food and veterinary care.

Since the plan began in December, the society has placed about 130 animals, most of them from military families connected to what became Operation Desert Storm, Zupancic said. The program since has expanded, to help civilians who urgently need to place a pet in temporary care, she said.

It also has inspired similar plans across the nation, she said.

“It’s just been really, really nice,” Zupancic said. “By the time people come to us, we’re their last resort. They’ve exhausted all their friends or relatives, or they are way back East, so they come to us.

“And it’s really been so wonderful because the foster hosts are so eager and excited to do this. They treat these animals like royalty. They’re so worried. They want to make sure the pet is cared for and well-fed.”

Linda Kelsey, 42, cared for Hobbes with her husband, Michael, 45, and daughter Kasey, 17. “I did nothing,” Linda Kelsey said. “I had all the fun.”

Hobbes, named for the tiger in Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon, arrived in early January. Jako Reed had just gone off to the Gulf, where he would help lead the first tank charges into Kuwait. Through the Humane Society’s program, Nancy Reed placed the cat with the Kelseys before she and her son went back to Grand Blanc, Mich., to be with her parents.

The meeting Sunday at the Kelsey home marked the Humane Society’s first reunion of pet and military owner.

“From the day she got here, (Hobbes) was eating like a horse,” Linda Kelsey said. “The first week of February, I realized it was more than just eating. On Valentine’s Day, she had three kittens. Isn’t that cute?”

“This big old tomcat was hanging around before Jake left,” Nancy Reed, 21, said. Protection was offered to Hobbes, not even a year old, she said. “Hobbes, we tried not to let her out. She was scared of this cat. But I guess the cat got her.”

No crisis, said Linda Kelsey. Though it wasn’t part of the deal, foster motherhood turned out to be a treat, she said.

A co-worker has agreed to take one kitten, she said. The Reeds took one of the two others along with Hobbes, back to base housing near San Clemente. “It’s neat that our cat had kittens,” Jako Reed, 22, said.

Linda Kelsey said she had to keep the last one. A tiny orange furball, it looks just like Hobbes, she said. She said she plans to call it--of course--Calvin.

“Mostly we’re keeping it as a memory of Hobbes, six toes and all,” Linda Kelsey said. “All of the kittens have six toes on front paws, just like the mother does.”

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Linda Kelsey said. “We’re going to miss Hobbes.”