Flowerbelle growing up

Even though I was crying my eyes out, I loved seeing the pics of Davidson from baby kitty to baby boy. Appreciating that all our kitties are still with us, I was going back through our pics, watching them all grow up....

This is Flowerbelle.

...after two weeks in the hospital when first rescued:



The angel who could pretty much only sleep to recover when she first came home:

She discovered the toy box :



Had ongoing trouble with her eye and had to have a cyst removed:



We finally had the eye removed and she became an INCREDIBLE bundle of energy!



...but she is deaf, so she always waves her paw around:



And she LOVES to tear paper (especially when she wants attention!):



She took over the basket of the cat tree:



And LOVED - for the first time - the catnip she was given by our Secret Santa at Christmas:



... and though a crazy maniac - she still finds time to be the sweet angel we brought into our home:




Laurie

She's so cute!

Aw Laurie!! I remember when you first got Flowerbelle
I'm so glad to see that she is doing so well She is a cutie pie.

Awww What a gorgeous girl!

Looks just like my Portia

What a doll baby!!

I guess I didnt get to see her resuce story, what happened to her eye?

Shes so precious!! She reminds me of my Taffy boy

Awww Laurie- she's gorgeous, simply gorgeous

Oh, what a special little girl! And she speaks using kitty sign language with her paw! TOO adorable!!!

She is so beautiful!!

Originally Posted by catloverin_ks

What a doll baby!!

I guess I didnt get to see her resuce story, what happened to her eye?

Shes so precious!! She reminds me of my Taffy boy

Click to expand...

She was just in terrible shape. A couple found her in the parking lot of a liquor store, and brought her to the vet. Gary happened to be there when they came to drop her off. The vet told them they'd have to take financial responsibility for her, and they wouldn't. They were going to take her back to the parking lot and put her back!!!!!!!!!!!! Gary caught that something was going on, and asked the receptionist. She told him. He ran out, chased them down, gave them a piece of his mind, and took the cat.

The vet didn't think she was going to make it. She was a bag of bones. She was badly sunburned. She was infected with everything. She had to be tube fed. She'd been attacked by something and had to be stitched up on her leg. Her eyes were glued shut from god knows what - but definitely herpes.

She needed to be a VERY strong girl to make it through, so we named her Flowerbelle, after Flowerbelle Lee, played by Mae West in the movie My Little Chickadee.

She made it and recovered - but had some ongoing problems after we brought her home. Poor thing had to be medicated 11 times a day (a lot of that related to trying to save the really bad eye). We reorganized our work lives to care for her. We tried for months - kept having it sewn shut with medication in it, etc. But it just wasn't worth it in the end. It wasn't getting better, and it was so traumatic for her to be medicated so often. So we made the decision to have it out. I wish we'd made the decision earlier.

Her energy levels went up 1000%. !!!!!!!!!!!! She's had no on-going problems or flare-ups from the herpes virus, and hasn't spread it to any of our other cats despite their close interaction for so many years (we lived in an RV when she was first rescued).

When we brought her home... she started purring. The only time she didn't purr was when she was sleeping. Playing, eating, drinking - always purring. There are some times now when she's not purring - but pick her up, she purrs, Give her treats, she purrs. Play with her, she purrs. She is just so happy to be alive! And she LOVES life so much she drives us nuts wanting to live it to the fullest all the time!

Laurie

That's such a great story, Laurie!

Please give Gary a big hug from me for being such a wonderful man!!! And one for you for all that you've done for your little darling girl!

aww what a sweetie. Those are great photos she is such a special little lady

Originally Posted by GingersMom

That's such a great story, Laurie!

Please give Gary a big hug from me for being such a wonderful man!!!

And one for you for all that you've done for your little darling girl!

Click to expand...

It is a great story of survival, that's for sure! But MAN - sometimes people just SUCK.

And I'll give Gary a hug from you for being such a wonderful man. He was already the cat-trapper by this time. We TNRd all the cats where we lived - it was in excess of 20 of them. We found many of them homes, placed all the kittens (except the ones we kept), and then branched out into the community. It was after Flowerbelle that we started funds at all the local vets so that if a situation like Flowerbelle's ever came up again, the vet would take the cat, and give us a buzz.

Laurie

Laurie, you and Gary are amazing people with wonderful hearts . You must have changed the lives of so many kitties for the better.

Flowerbelle is adorable! You can just see her sweet nature, it's right there in the expression on her beautiful face.

Awww, Laurie, Flowerbelle's rescue story is so touching and you guys are amazing! She's absolutely gorgeous and reminds me of my Claire.

She is a sweet Angel, and a very lucky kitty.

Originally Posted by eilcon

... She's absolutely gorgeous and reminds me of my Claire.

Click to expand...

Totally! Every time I see Claire I think that too. Actually - every time I see a white kitty with that "pixie" face it reminds me of Flowerbelle I wasn't really a "fan" of white kitties before I got involved with cats. I don't know why. But there were some darn cute ones I "met" on TCS before we rescued Flowerbelle - and then she really was just tooo cute. So of course I'm a white kitty lover now!

Laurie

White kitties are just the best

(Not that I'm biased at all )

Oh Jane - your little Avatar looks just like "angel" Flowerbelle!

Laurie

Originally Posted by LDG

Totally! Every time I see Claire I think that too.

Actually - every time I see a white kitty with that "pixie" face it reminds me of Flowerbelle

I wasn't really a "fan" of white kitties before I got involved with cats. I don't know why. But there were some darn cute ones I "met" on TCS before we rescued Flowerbelle - and then she really was just tooo cute. So of course I'm a white kitty lover now!

Laurie

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean. I was never a big "fan" of white cats, mostly because I'd never seen many of them. Then I had the chance to socialize Peter and Claire's litter (in which there three white kittens besides Claire) and absolutely fell in love. They're such gorgeous kitties. Everytime I see one of the white TCS kitties I'm just in awe of their beauty.

Originally Posted by LDG

The angel who could pretty much only sleep to recover when she first came home:

Click to expand...

Laurie, that is still one of my all time favorite kitty pics ever. Flowerbelle really does look like a little angel there.