Vianne's Panda Bear
A few months ago I had the opportunity to help out an abandoned homeless furball. Over the course of nearly 9 months, I had been feeding a beautiful black and white kitty that showed up periodically in the evenings and early mornings. At first I thought perhaps he was a neighbors cat that was being let out at night, but he was very skittish and always ravenous. He also had a bit of dermatitis covering a large area at the base of his tail where the hair had fallen out and the skin had scabbed over. I felt sorry for the little guy and so I added a liquid wormer to his food and sneakily applied some Revolution to the back of his neck. After a week or so his hair began to grow back so I figured he has flea allergies.
Determined to take action to help this little orphan that was growing increasingly more affectionate, I attached a note with my phone number and email to a reflective collar which I managed after several attempts to get on him, asking the owner (if there was one) to please contact me and let me know that he had a home. After 2 weeks, I still had heard nothing and he was still wearing the collar with the note undisturbed. Fortunately, I work at a vet clinic, so i caught him one night and took him to work with me. After getting him all checked out by the vet, giving a couple of vaccines, FeLV/FIV tested, and scanning for a microchip, I came to discover that here I had an approximately 2 year old neutered male cat named "Bill" whose owner had moved away to Georgia and left him behind. My heart broke at the thought of this little sweetheart being homeless and abandoned for so long. Eventually, I took him home with the thought of reintroducing him to the good life indoors before I tried to find him a new home through a local rescue. I introduced him to Vianne and the two of them are now little terrors together, always racing about the house, teasing each other, and cleaning each others faces.
I have been absolutely amazed and the rate of speed that this guy has made himself at home and come to trust me. After only 3 months of indoor living, he now allows me to trim the nails on all four of his adorable black-padded little white feet, pick him up and snuggle, he's already picked up some of Vianne's trick training, he loves getting a bath and just last night did incredibly well with getting his teeth brushed.
Animals are truly amazing. Sometimes I wonder if they aren't little angels that come into our lives to teach us compassion. My new little angel has a new life, a new kitty friend, a new home and so I had to give him a new name. We decided to call him Panda and he really is a snuggly little panda bear.
Determined to take action to help this little orphan that was growing increasingly more affectionate, I attached a note with my phone number and email to a reflective collar which I managed after several attempts to get on him, asking the owner (if there was one) to please contact me and let me know that he had a home. After 2 weeks, I still had heard nothing and he was still wearing the collar with the note undisturbed. Fortunately, I work at a vet clinic, so i caught him one night and took him to work with me. After getting him all checked out by the vet, giving a couple of vaccines, FeLV/FIV tested, and scanning for a microchip, I came to discover that here I had an approximately 2 year old neutered male cat named "Bill" whose owner had moved away to Georgia and left him behind. My heart broke at the thought of this little sweetheart being homeless and abandoned for so long. Eventually, I took him home with the thought of reintroducing him to the good life indoors before I tried to find him a new home through a local rescue. I introduced him to Vianne and the two of them are now little terrors together, always racing about the house, teasing each other, and cleaning each others faces.
I have been absolutely amazed and the rate of speed that this guy has made himself at home and come to trust me. After only 3 months of indoor living, he now allows me to trim the nails on all four of his adorable black-padded little white feet, pick him up and snuggle, he's already picked up some of Vianne's trick training, he loves getting a bath and just last night did incredibly well with getting his teeth brushed.
Animals are truly amazing. Sometimes I wonder if they aren't little angels that come into our lives to teach us compassion. My new little angel has a new life, a new kitty friend, a new home and so I had to give him a new name. We decided to call him Panda and he really is a snuggly little panda bear.