A Drive From Maryland to New Jersey
Folts and Callahan were a young couple from the Baltimore area. According to The Washington Post, Folts sent Fishtopher's profile to Callahan after the two had already been talking about the possibility of him adopting a cat or dog.
At first, sharing animal listings between them was not necessarily serious. Sending cute pets had become something of a habit.
But Fishtopher was different.
Callahan had recently moved into a larger home, making the possibility of pet ownership more realistic. The couple saw the attention surrounding Fishtopher and understood that they would not be the only people interested in him.
So they headed north.
They drove from Maryland to Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in New Jersey and arrived early enough to be first in line. Other prospective adopters came for Fishtopher too, but Folts and Callahan ultimately completed the adoption process and became the people who would take him home.
Their decision was about more than the viral photograph.
In an interview with WBAL-TV shortly after the adoption, the couple described Fishtopher as a good personality match. He was relaxed, affectionate and apparently quite content with the idea of sitting around and watching television with his humans.
In other words, the sad-faced internet celebrity was also simply a cat whose temperament happened to fit their lives.
That point matters.
Successful animal adoption is not only about feeling sympathy for an animal. It is also about finding a household capable of meeting that animal's needs and an animal whose energy level, behavior and personality fit the people bringing it home.
Homeward Bound's current adoption guidance emphasizes that process. Prospective adopters meet an animal, speak with shelter staff about whether the pet is a suitable fit and demonstrate that they can provide a stable home, veterinary care, nutrition and companionship.
For Fishtopher, the match happened extraordinarily quickly.
Only about two days after his profile began exploding across social media, he was leaving the shelter.
“Fishtopher Has Left the Building”
The shelter announced the happy ending with understandable excitement.
After hundreds of inquiries and an extraordinary burst of online attention, Fishtopher had officially been adopted.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Homeward Bound celebrated the outcome while also hoping the attention would encourage people to notice other animals waiting for homes. The shelter's executive director said Fishtopher's fame had already helped draw attention to additional cats and dogs that might otherwise have been overlooked.
It was a remarkable turnaround.
Only days earlier, Fishtopher had been photographed looking as if he wanted nothing to do with the world around him.
Now he was in a car heading toward Baltimore with a new family.
The transition, however, did not instantly erase his nervousness.
During the journey home, Fishtopher was reportedly shy. When held, he sometimes tucked his face into the crook of an arm, seeming to seek reassurance from the humans beside him. His new owners stopped along the way for supplies, including food and litter, before continuing toward his new home.
It was a much quieter beginning than the internet frenzy surrounding him.
No giant crowd.
No thousands of notifications.
Just a nervous cat, two people who had chosen him and the beginning of an entirely new routine.
That quieter part of Fishtopher's story may be the most important one.
Adoption is not completed emotionally the moment an animal leaves a shelter. For many pets, moving into a home means another enormous environmental change. There are unfamiliar rooms, unfamiliar smells, new people, different sounds and a new daily routine.
The ASPCA advises adopters that some pets adjust quickly while others may initially feel nervous or overwhelmed. Its adoption guidance encourages patience, routine and allowing newly adopted animals time and space to become comfortable rather than forcing interaction.
Fishtopher needed that chance too.
And once he had it, his behavior began to change.