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- Jan 24, 2012
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We've been considering adopting a 4th cat since January, but had cold feet and would browse adoption events and petfinder but weren't sure whether we were ready. In early July we visited a no-kill shelter because we noticed on petfinder that they had several sweet sounding female cats in the 6-10 yr old range and we thought that would be a good fit for us.
It was there we met Sharon, an approx. 6 yr old orange tabby who had been dumped there 2 yrs earlier with her kittens. She seemed to be the best personality to fit in with our existing cat family but she was in obviously poor health. She was dirty and had matted fur and the staff reported she had been drooling. She also had a silent meow. (They assumed upper respiratory, but I convinced them to have a vet look at her mouth since pain might have led to a lack of self-grooming. Plus none of her roommates had colds.)
Fast forward through our vacation (where I thought of Sharon so many times) and a couple of more visits and the shelter eventually getting her to the vet so we could have more info. (We just didn't feel like we could bring her home without some idea of what was wrong with her, with three other cats in the house.) Long story short....she has severe stomatitis, a mouth infection. We found a new vet for her after not being satisfied with our own vet's approach to stomatitis. The shelter agreed to let us foster her to try and get her healthy.
She took doxycycline for 30 days and recovered from a nasty URI (while living in our bathroom.) (She is also FeLV and FIV negative by the way.) She then met our other cats and the hisses died down quickly. She has great social skills and made friends with all 3 cats within the week. She had a week with them but is now living in isolation again while she recovers from dental extractions.
During the week she spent with our cats, we knew it was time to let the shelter know we would like to officially adopt her. They were very pleased and we stop by to sign on the dotted line on Saturday.
We are so thrilled with our new addition! She is a fabulous cat....playful as a kitten, sweet, curious, fun-loving and cute as a button. (While she is full grown, she looks like a 5 month old kitten to me. She weighs 7 1/2 pounds but has a tiny head and body so she seems even smaller than her weight.) We decided to call her Lucy (partly inspired by the red hair....Lucille Ball....but my kids like the connection to Lucy in the Narnia books.) Plus it is a cute, little happy name for a very cute, little happy cat.
I shared this news in the "force feeding" thread I started but thought it also deserved it's own thread. I love a happy ending and am so glad to be a part of Lucy's. Here are some pics...
Her first morning out of isolation....hanging with Emily and Eko. Eko amazed me by not hissing at her once. (He hissed at Leo for over a month when they met, but they are good friends now.)
Also her first morning out of isolation....playing with Leo (Leo is the orange tabby with the blue collar.) I'm looking forward to getting some pics that better show their size difference. Leo is almost twice her size.
It was there we met Sharon, an approx. 6 yr old orange tabby who had been dumped there 2 yrs earlier with her kittens. She seemed to be the best personality to fit in with our existing cat family but she was in obviously poor health. She was dirty and had matted fur and the staff reported she had been drooling. She also had a silent meow. (They assumed upper respiratory, but I convinced them to have a vet look at her mouth since pain might have led to a lack of self-grooming. Plus none of her roommates had colds.)
Fast forward through our vacation (where I thought of Sharon so many times) and a couple of more visits and the shelter eventually getting her to the vet so we could have more info. (We just didn't feel like we could bring her home without some idea of what was wrong with her, with three other cats in the house.) Long story short....she has severe stomatitis, a mouth infection. We found a new vet for her after not being satisfied with our own vet's approach to stomatitis. The shelter agreed to let us foster her to try and get her healthy.
She took doxycycline for 30 days and recovered from a nasty URI (while living in our bathroom.) (She is also FeLV and FIV negative by the way.) She then met our other cats and the hisses died down quickly. She has great social skills and made friends with all 3 cats within the week. She had a week with them but is now living in isolation again while she recovers from dental extractions.
During the week she spent with our cats, we knew it was time to let the shelter know we would like to officially adopt her. They were very pleased and we stop by to sign on the dotted line on Saturday.
We are so thrilled with our new addition! She is a fabulous cat....playful as a kitten, sweet, curious, fun-loving and cute as a button. (While she is full grown, she looks like a 5 month old kitten to me. She weighs 7 1/2 pounds but has a tiny head and body so she seems even smaller than her weight.) We decided to call her Lucy (partly inspired by the red hair....Lucille Ball....but my kids like the connection to Lucy in the Narnia books.) Plus it is a cute, little happy name for a very cute, little happy cat.
I shared this news in the "force feeding" thread I started but thought it also deserved it's own thread. I love a happy ending and am so glad to be a part of Lucy's. Here are some pics...
Her first morning out of isolation....hanging with Emily and Eko. Eko amazed me by not hissing at her once. (He hissed at Leo for over a month when they met, but they are good friends now.)
Also her first morning out of isolation....playing with Leo (Leo is the orange tabby with the blue collar.) I'm looking forward to getting some pics that better show their size difference. Leo is almost twice her size.
What a beautiful kitty! 
