For the last four years or so, the area outside of the Boston Police Department’s SWAT team headquarters has been home to their unofficial mascot — a sweet-natured calico kitty who just showed up one day and decided to stay.
The officers named her SWAT Cat, naturally.
It didn’t take long for the SWAT team to fall in love with their new self-appointed feline colleague, who’d always run to greet them as they returned from a call, or cozy up beside them when they sat outside. In return, the SWAT team has made sure she’s stayed healthy and safe.
One thing they couldn’t do, however, was make SWAT Cat an indoor cat.
“The men and women of the BPD SWAT Team have tried numerous tactics over the years to convince her to come in from the elements but she is set in her ways,” a department spokesperson wrote online.
While the team has provided her with a variety of shelters in the past, they decided it was time SWAT Cat had an abode befitting of her place in their hearts.
What resulted is an insulated architectural masterpiece of pet-sized proportions.
“Officer Jamie Pietroski, a 15-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, stayed late after work for several nights painstakingly preparing Swat Cat’s new home,” writes the department. “The condo features a spacious studio interior layout, a large deck for outdoor dining and glass sliding doors offering panoramic city views.”
The insistently outdoor kitty would now be living in style.
And sure enough, she seemed to appreciate the gesture.
“Swat Cat moved right in and looks very happy with her new custom kitty accommodations,” wrote the department.
While we would love to see SWAT Cat decide to put her free-spirited days as a stray behind her, and opt instead for the comfort and security of domestic life inside with the team, we’re happy to know that the door for her is always open.
In the meantime, it’s nice to know she’ll be cozy in a cat condo all her own.
