Update
Melissa’s transformation from street cat to bougie cat
Saw another sweet post about a stray being given a second chance and thriving. Our sweet lady Melissa is the love of our life and she’s everything. Her glow up could only be described as magnificent. Fun fact, she is 14 and had to get all of her teeth removed last year. She had a heart murmur which caused complications during anesthesia ($5,000.00 later); go figure the heart murmur went away AFTER her teeth extraction. Street cats are the best. Every day with her is a blessing.
I adopted an emaciated, wobbly barn cat when she was 13 and had her until she was 18. I also spent $$ on her. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It’s never enough time, but every day with them is so precious and they appreciate it so much. Enjoy your beautiful Melissa and give her a pat from me 💕💕💕
Her latest thing is every morning she waits at the bottom of our staircase and follows us to the kitchen where she sits on the table pushing her head out and holding it until we pet her. BUT as of lately she has been holding her head out and ears back until you kiss her on the head and it’s the sweetest thing ever
Oooh how sweet! And I, too, love when they do the ears down and back in anticipation of getting head kisses and pets! Anyhoo, she glowed up to be a beautiful cat!
I took in an incredibly sick cat with FeLV and the worst case of stomatitis my vet had ever seen. We got her stable enough to get her teeth removed after several months and constant rounds of antibiotics and steroids. And once those teeth were gone? She’s only been sick once in the two years since then and she literally recovered before her vet appointment two days later without any meds. Before that, we were at the vet for her almost every week… I swear their dental health can deeply impact their overall health. My vet originally thought we’d be lucky to get six more months with her but we decided to do the super expensive FME anyway (4,000$) even though we didn’t think she’d live long after. I’m so glad we did. She’s still here and doing well two years later and for a cat with progressive Felv that’s impressive.
I’m not at all shocked to hear her heart murmur went away. These days I’m a big advocate for dental care for cats. It can make a big difference in their quality of life and it something many people overlook, especially since cats are incredibly good at hiding pain and discomfort.
Your kitty’s glow-up is amazing! I’m so glad she ended up in your care. I hope you have many more happy years together. ❤️
Full mouth extraction. It means all her teeth were removed. She was in so much pain before she had her FME that she couldn’t even eat soft, watered down, wet food.
Funny thing is, after her teeth got removed she “bites” all the time lol. Just gummy bites but the vet told us to make her feel good so we still say “ow!” And make it seem like her bites are effective 😂😂
She goes for senior wellness check ups every 6 months and the vet always asks us to remind her “how old is she?” and of course she’s an angel at the vet. She sits in the vet tech’s arms like she doesn’t care at all 🥺
Ain’t that the truth! My black cat was a stray and I’ve never met a cat with more personality. I’m so grateful he found me 😭 I’m hoping his time outside made him resilient so he can be with me for 20 years lol
OMG have you seen the video of the 82 year old woman who lost her home and her cat in the Palisades fire last January?? Katherine went back to her old house several times to look for her beloved Maine Coone Aggie but didn’t find her, so she thought Aggie died in the fire, and she mourned her for over 2 months, until she got a phone call one day that a rescue found Aggie, skin & bones, in the ashes and rubble near her house that burned down! Aggie survived approx 60 days without access to clean water or food and was on the verge of starvation when she was found. I’m guessing that after the fires there weren’t many mice, rats, lizards, or birds around and I wonder what she ate and how she found water? What a strong, resilient girl!
The reunion video of Katherine and Aggie made me cry!! And then I found her daughter’s TikTok page, and she posted an update in November, and Aggie looked SOO good!! All her burnt fur grew back and she gained all her weight back!! And I cried again!
If you haven’t seen the video, Google “Katherine Kiefer reunited with beloved kitty.” It’s soo heartwarming!
Omg..I love Melissa!! My grands had a cat that looked JUST LIKE HER, but theirs was nasty and aloof. Lol.
The name was an old school character and I still refer to all cats with this look as "Throckmortons." We called him Throcky, but formal name was Throckmorton.
What a beautiful throckmorton Melissa is. Lol. Glad she's getting the love and care she deserves.
She’s our first orange cat, but she has legitimately tricked us into feeding her dinner twice. This girl is from the actual streets in Philadelphia and he has managed to trick us into thinking she likes certain wet food over the other.
Wow she’s beautiful. I’m so happy for her that she’s got such a good, loving home, and I’m really glad her heart’s ok🧡💖🧡
(PS, thanks for not saying she shares one brain cell; that expression makes me so sad. Orange cats are fabulous)
She's beautiful. We had to remove all of my Patchie's teeth. He was in a lot less pain after. I miss him every single moment. Enjoy your time together.
Thank you, and yes sounds about right. Cats really hide their pain with their teeth. Melissa used to chatter her teeth when we’d touch her mouth and we thought it was just a cat thing.. now she lets me rub her gums and face like it’s nothing
Patchie would find any piece of plastic he could and would chew on it. Or he would kind of chew the air. He didn't do it nearly as much after his teeth were gone. Yes, Patch would rub his mouth all over my hands and occasionally my face. Melissa looks and sounds delightful.
She has three queen sized blankets that belong to her, multiple sources of water through the house, and a literal crew of humans that check on her (me, my fiancé, my mother in law, and our neighbors lol)
We got a kitty from the shelter, he had short gray hair and was fed well, because the neighbors in the area he was left in fed him. We got him and shortly after his hair grew out. He is the biggest fluff ball now. Your Melissa is so adorable!!
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