11/18/2024
A beautiful story about adopting a senior cat in your later years, from our friends at Greater Good….
After losing my precious kitty of 10 years to a stroke, I decided to adopt another cat. Being 76 myself, I didn’t want to get a young cat so if something happened to me, they wouldn’t be put back into a shelter again. Going to our local shelter, I found a 12-year-old black cat who was very scared.
She had huge eyes and white whiskers and broke my heart. She was still on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection and had had surgery on her leg. She was the one I wanted.
The first thing she did at home was sit in the litter box. I left her alone to inspect the house. From there, she spent the next two weeks under my bed, coming out to eat and go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, she still seemed to have sneezing fits.
The vet put her on an antihistamine. I think her illness may be due to feline herpes, common in shelter cats. After watching her behavior, I suspect she may have been abused, and maybe not wanted because of her allergies.
At that point, I decided to make her "well". She had diarrhea from the food they gave me, so I switched her to a grain-free dry food, a probiotic for her tummy, some Omega-3 oil for her bare spots and dry skin, L-lysine for her immune system, and Cosamine for cats for her leg so she wouldn't get arthritis at her age. She still wouldn't let me walk anywhere near her, or pick her up, or hold her. Poor frightened baby.
Now after five months of patient love, I'm happy to say that her greatest love is to have her tummy scratched and rubbed. She sleeps with me every night and knows my routine so that she's waiting on the bed before I ever get there! She still needs her meds, but I believe that will be a "forever" thing. However long I have with her, my greatest desire is that my sweet Maggie is content and happy.
