Jonesy was the third of a litter of six born to Hermione and an unknown father. Hermione belonged to a colony of feral cats settled in Roeding Park.

A coyote killed her mother three weeks after birth. Volunteers at a local animal shelter rescued him shortly afterward. Jonesy was more worms than cat, severely underweight, and had the cat flu. He had also injured his right eye during the coyote attack, but he recovered. The shelter named him Claude.

At nine weeks old, friends of cancer patient Barbara Tahoe adopted him on her behalf. Barbara wished to gift a kitty to her husband Troy to keep him company after she passed. She renamed him Jonesy after Norah Jones, her favorite singer, because he meowed a lot. She died shortly after.

Jonesy lived with Troy in Fresno until February 19, 2023, or Romero Day. That day Troy put Jonesy in his bubble carrier and drove to an evacuation center in LA. They abandoned the car after Zombies damaged it. Luckily, to Troy’s surprise, Zombies feared Jonesy. He saved Troy’s neck many times after that.

Two months later, they made it to Troy’s former place in LA. The previous building manager and now ruler of the building allowed them to stay for one night. He didn’t like Jonesy. The feeling was mutual.