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Nov 24, 2023

Rare male calico kitten adopted from Colorado cat shelter

After his humble beginnings in a Weld County shed, Loveland's "unicorn kitten"

After his humble beginnings in a Weld County shed, Loveland's "unicorn kitten" is officially moving on up to his forever home.

Unicorn, an extremely rare male calico kitten who was born in a shed earlier this year — he ultimately landed in the care of Loveland's NoCo Kitties rescue by way of the Weld County Humane Society — was adopted Friday.

The rare kitten, appropriately named Unicorn and later nicknamed Charlie Unicorn, has been the recent star of NoCo Kitties. After The Coloradoan published an article on him in late-April, news spread across the country and the rescue was flooded with more than 400 adoption applications for the kitten, according to NoCo Kitties founder Davida Dupont.

Typically the rescue sees an average of two to three adoption applications per kitten, Dupont told the Coloradoan on Friday.

"We heard from people in Florida, Nova Scotia, California, Texas," Dupont said, adding that NoCo Kitties ultimately decided to limit the application process to Colorado residents.

In the end, the rescue narrowed the field of potential adopters down to Kate Crandall, a Denver resident who had seen Unicorn's story on 9News.

Crandall lost her 13-year-old female calico cat, Rocky, back in December. She loves calicos but also really wanted her next cat to be a boy, she told the Coloradoan.

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Since males make up just one of every 3,000 calico births, according to the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine, Crandall had set her sights on adopting a male orange kitten at some point.

Then, Unicorn's story found her.

"I just couldn't not apply for another calico," Crandall said.

"I said, 'If this is meant to be, Rocky Cat would have a hand in it,'" Crandall said, referring to her late cat, Rocky. "I feel like these companions are kind of chosen for you cosmically."

The stars did align for Crandall. While advancing through the application process, she learned Unicorn had bonded with Cooper — a rambunctious 3-month-old orange kitten Unicorn had been fostered with after his siblings got adopted.

When asked if she would be open to adopting Unicorn and Cooper as a bonded pair, the answer was easy for Crandall.

"What can you say other than 'of course'?" she said.

While Unicorn was highly sought after — "we got offers for thousands of dollars (for him)," Dupont said — NoCo Kitties wanted him to go to the best home, not the highest bidder, Dupont told the Coloradoan. In the end, his adoption fee was more than the rescue's usual $195 for kittens, coming in at around $750 for both Unicorn and Cooper, according to Dupont.

The rescue also hosted a fundraiser around Unicorn's adoption, which brought in $2,500 and will go toward NoCo Kitties' operations while it works to finish the Meow Mansion — the rescue's first physical location on Loveland's West Eisenhower Boulevard.

While there's still work to be done on the rescue's new physical location, the house-turned-shelter has become the perfect spot for adoptive owners to pick up their new cat or kitten from NoCo Kitties. That's what happened Friday as Crandall walked through the doors — cat carrier in tow — for Cooper and Unicorn.

Soon they were running around the rescue's back room with some of its other cats and kittens, bounding up to Crandall for the occasional snuggle before packing up and heading off to their new home — together.

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