Anchored by Love, One Day at a Time
How an adopted cat named Leo became Jenna’s companion, her comfort, and her reason to keep going.
Since 2013, Petco Love has celebrated the love that we share with our pets through our annual Love Stories campaign. We’re excited to celebrate the special connection between Jenna and Leo, an adopted cat from Animal Care Centers of NYC.
Jenna + Leo’s Love Story
I brought Leo home in the first shaky month of my sobriety, when the loudest voice in my head kept telling me I couldn’t go on. I didn’t know if I could care for another living thing when I, myself, didn’t want to be alive. I’d grown up with dogs and knew almost nothing about cats, but something bigger than myself nudged me toward Manhattan ACC. I asked which kitten had waited the longest and they pointed to a tiny tuxedo labeled “Cappuccino.” I took him home and, out of equal parts instinct and desperation, treated him like a dog.
I named him Leo, and he rode the subway with me. We went on walks. He barreled into every room to greet whoever entered, as if announcing that life was still hospitable. That small, unabashed greeting ritual cracked something inside me. Each day I had to get up, feed him, clean up after him, say hello to him— tiny anchors that anchored me back when I wanted to drift.
Leo moved with me to the suburbs, learned to cuddle with his cat and dog sister, and patiently taught countless foster puppies how to be gentle around cats. Leo has converted many a dog lover into a cat fan. He prowls the backyard now, proud and playful, a hunting spirit who always comes back when I call—just like a puppy. Six years into my sobriety, I look at the life we’ve built, and it feels like a miracle I couldn’t have planned.
Leo didn’t just keep me busy; he taught me how to stay. He showed me that responsibility can be love in action, that tending to another being can carve purpose into the thinnest days. I don’t think I would be here to tell this story if I hadn’t trusted that small impulse to bring him home. He is my sober companion, my daily reason to find joy, and the living proof that if you can find a way to love others, life becomes worth living.
