“Folks saved taking Leo’s shirts off as a result of they thought he was sizzling,” stated shopper Jeff Simpkins, who works as a business ground installer in Mount Laurel, and is an everyday on the retailer.
Residence Depot staff initially purchased the cat T-shirts and dressed him as much as hold him from eradicating a bandage after a visit to the vet to deal with a scratch on his pores and skin.
“Then they saved dressing him as a result of they thought he regarded cute,” Simpkins stated.
Simpkins first met Leo in June when he was buying on the retailer and got here throughout a cat tree, a used litter field and a big planter full of pillows and plush toys within the backyard middle.
Simpkins is a cat lover with two cats at residence named Will and Grace. He stated he figured there have to be a cat dwelling within the retailer, so he requested an worker, who led him to the heating and air-con aisle and launched him to Leo.
“I assumed he was a fairly cool, plump-looking cat. He was additionally very pleasant,” Simpkins stated. “I’ve all the time been a cat man, and I questioned if there was one thing I might do for him.”
The worker advised Simpkins that the cat was adopted by staffers from an animal shelter a few yr in the past to assist with a rodent downside on the retailer. A number of staff take turns cleansing Leo’s litter field, filling his meals and water bowls and altering his T-shirts, Simpkins stated.
“I realized that he lived there year-round, and so they didn’t shut the shop till they may discover Leo and put him within the climate-controlled backyard middle for the night time,” he stated.
Simpkins determined to start out visiting Leo a number of days every week. Throughout one in all his visits in June, he took alongside his cat Will, and he determined to shoot a video and put it on TikTok. The video, which confirmed Leo lounging in a planter within the backyard division, rapidly racked up greater than 1.5 million views and a whole bunch of feedback.
“I’m complaining to my native Residence Depot, we don’t have a Leo,” one in all his followers commented.
“He wants a Residence Depot vest — he’s working exhausting!” prompt another person.
“He’s an emotional help animal for everybody who spends an excessive amount of cash there,” one commenter famous.
Over the summer season, Simpkins would typically go on daily basis to see Leo and make a TikTok, hoping the eye would assist draw consciousness to the significance of adopting homeless cats.
“Folks beloved Leo, so I made a decision to maintain going to the shop to shoot movies,” he stated.
In complete, Simpkins’s Leo movies on TikTok have been seen greater than 35 million occasions over the summer season, he stated.
“Lots of people who stay round right here inform me they began coming in to go to Leo after they noticed one of many movies,” Simpkins stated.
Typically they create cat treats after they cease to pet him and reward him.
“He loves that, however he additionally likes mice,” Simpkins stated. “After I was right here the opposite day, I used to be advised he ate a whole small mouse.”
Leo all the time eats what he catches and doesn’t normally go away remnants behind, he stated.
The cat has been recognized to often chase clients’ canine across the retailer, however Leo usually will get together with everybody, Simpkins added.
Residence Depot’s company workplace declined to permit staff on the Mount Laurel retailer to remark publicly about Leo, however an organization spokesperson stated the cat is a welcome addition to the retailer.
“We perceive that Leo has grow to be an enormous sensation. However the retailer group is extraordinarily busy, and we don’t need to district from the enterprise,” Residence Depot company communications supervisor Terrance Roper wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Put up.
“I can let you know that our retailer was proud to have adopted Leo, and we’re thrilled that Leo loves taking good care of our folks as a lot as we love taking good care of him,” Roper added.
Simpkins stated he not too long ago began an Amazon want listing for the house enchancment feline to maintain him provided with outfits, treats and catnip toys.
Though he purchased Leo a brand new cat mattress, he stated the dapper feline appears content material to lounge on high of cardboard packing containers or within them, which at a Residence Depot retailer, is like reaching feline nirvana.
Leo isn’t the primary cat to take up residence inside a Residence Depot — a cat named Cat runs free in a Residence Depot in Chandler, Ariz., and an orange cat named Oscar lives in a retailer simply 20 minutes away from Leo in Cherry Hill, N.J.
However Simpkins stated Leo might be the most effective dressed. A “Hocus Pocus” T-shirt he purchased the cat final Halloween is amongst Simpkins’s favourite outfits.
“He doesn’t have any pajamas but, however the individuals who work right here love to decorate him, and he’s getting fairly the wardrobe,” he stated.
For the previous couple weeks, although, Leo hasn’t worn clothes in any respect. The cat has a small spot of irritated pores and skin — brought on by extreme licking and scratching — that should heal. Simpkins stated a T-shirt might trigger it additional irritation.
He stated Leo ought to be again to his modern self quickly.
Clients who come to the shop to go to Leo benefit from the problem of discovering him, he stated, because the cat roams wherever he likes, from the tub and {hardware} sections to the door division — in all probability Leo’s least favourite place, since cats famously hate closed doorways.
“You’ll discover him virtually anyplace, however the strangest place I’ve discovered him is within the plumbing aisle, curled up inside a field, sleeping on high of among the merchandise,” Simpkins stated.
“Like all cat, he’ll sleep anyplace,” he stated.
