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Best Friends: Kathy Leverton
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(Times photo: Marissa Weiher)
Kathy Leverton, an animal caretaker at the Green County Humane Society, talks about her best friends Hidey, a 16-year-old female gray cat, and Lukas, a 3-year-old orange male cat.

Hidey was found in an abandoned box of kittens that was left outside of a veterinarian's office in DeKalb, Illinois, where Leverton used to live. When Leverton peeked inside the box, she instantly picked out Hidey, who was hiding on picture day.

Then more than a year ago, Leverton and her oldest son, Josiah, were volunteering at the Green County Humane Society where they met Lukas and fell in love with him.



- Marissa Weiher



Describe their personalities.

Hidey's old. She prefers my husband (Joe), which is funny because I'm the one who brought her home and he didn't want any more cats. She's a lap cat, but only for him. She'll lay on his lap and if he's on his laptop she'll lay on the the keyboard.

Lukas was very timid and shy when we first brought him home. He was afraid of the washing machine and the air conditioner. Although he's always sweet, but now he's very affectionate. He follows me everywhere. He waits for me outside the bathroom. He likes Hidey, but she's still warming up to him.



What do you like to do together?

Anything really. Lukas likes to hop up in bed when I'm reading to the kids. And every night he saves us from killer ribbons, pipe cleaners, air and scraps of paper.



What has it been like having them in your life?

It's been wonderful. I grew up with cats so to not have a cat in the house would feel wrong. Pets are super important especially when you have kids in the house. We've had Hidey for a long time. She's always been there and she's been very patient dealing with four little children running around this house.