Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Danielle Chambless Jarrard’s pet-sitter, Oak Cliff animal rescuer extraordinaire Kathy Kibbel, called her one day on the way to check on her dogs.
Kibbel had been driving down Edgefield Avenue when the car in front of her hit something that looked like a plastic bag, but she quickly realized it was a kitten.
Kibbel was calling to let Jarrard know she was taking this kitten to Metro Paws before she checked on her pack.
The kitten had to have his right front leg amputated immediately.
“When she called me back to update me, I knew he was going to be mine,” Jarrard says.
After all, the day he was found, June 7, is Jarrard’s birthday, and Kibbel had been on the way to check on Jarrard’s dogs.
Photo by Danny Fulgencio
She named him Link, and for a while, he was known as the missing link, when he escaped and was gone for five days before returning home.
That’s when Jarrard found a couple more cats.
One followed her two blocks to her house in Elmwood while she was out looking for Link.
“Then a week later, the second one came to my door and was like, ‘Hey, I’m a cat. I see you have cats. Can I come in?’” she says. “Once you take one in from your neighborhood there’s like, a scent or a red flashing light that only cats can see that leads them to your house.”
She’s since changed Link’s formal moniker to Link Loves All Cats because he is such a good sibling to other foster cats (Jarrard’s two neighborhood cats are available for adoption).
Link also loves dogs. His best friend is Max, a 51-pound Oak Cliff street mutt.
Their favorite game strikes terror in the hearts of unsuspecting guests. It goes like this: Max puts Link’s entire head in her mouth and pulls him across the floor. They do this over and over again, and Link has taught all the cats this trick as well.
“It’s a very common occurrence in my house,” Jarrard says. “When people come over, I have to explain that this is like, fun for them.”
She also has a 15-year-old Pomeranian, a bulldog, Louie, and Nova, a 6-year-old possible shih tzu mix — plus an older cat named Skittles.
“I’m not like a pit bull person or a lab person,” she says. “I just have all the dogs.”
Photo by Danny Fulgencio
