Adoption

Gigi the day she came home

Shortly after I lost Tigger, I decided to adopt again. I checked out my local shelters through Petfinder. Best service ever.

It has a great search engine by location, age, sex, length of time in the shelter, etc.

WELL worth the effort. I specifically wanted to find a pet that had been in the shelter the longest. I knew there would be difficulties getting those pets adopted out.

Originally, I was looking at dogs as I hadn't had a dog in so long and really wanted to be able to go for walks with him or her.

However, I found a listing of a cat who had been in the shelter for 4 years! I really thought this was an error, I mean, why would they hold a cat for 4 years? It didn't make sense, but when I was ready, I drove the 30 miles to the shelter to find out.

It turned out that this little Torby female, named Gracie, had been part of a hoarder situation, living in a cage on the porch with several other cats. They were all confiscated, and it took 4 years for the Humane Society to get custody.

During that time, they were only allowed to perform those medical procedures that were meant to keep her alive. Meaning, they couldn't alter her.

She became very depressed and bitter during her time in there. She developed anorexia, she refused to eat, she became malnourished, her teeth rotted. They pulled all of her teeth except 6 on her bottom jaw. All her uppers and rear teeth were gone.

When I went to meet her, she paid absolutely no attention to me. She wanted only to go back to her cage. But I didn't care. I wanted to get her out of there. She was severely underweight, her ribs, hips and shoulder-blades were poking out, her fur was thin, she had absolutely no fat cover.

I had to wait, but I went back the following week to pick her up and take her home.

It was a little hard, I had to finagle some tricks to get her out, and keep her out of her depression, but she is now a very happy little kitty. She has gained 2 lbs and is a very healthy 6 1/2 lbs. She eats without being finicky. She goes in and out of the back yard, and always come back to nap beside me. I've renamed her Gigi (short for Good Girl.) And she's the most curious and fun little kitty I could imagine.

Gigi Today