Sweet Sitka

When we initially called Animals First Foundation about fostering a cat, we had no idea we would fall so hard for our Sitka.  We planned on only fostering her for a couple of months, then adopting some kittens of our own in springtime when kittens are plentiful. But after a few months with Sitka, we knew we couldn't give her up to anybody else.

All we knew of her past was that she lived in a garage most of her life and had never been taken to a vet.  We think she's somewhere between 12-14 years old.  She was just over 6 pounds when we got her, but ever since we've had her, she's packed on the pounds. Now she's almost up to her ideal weight of 8 pounds.

When she first came to our house, she just slept most of the time on the couch and shot us bored stares when we tried to entice her with catnip-filled mice and string. After taking her to the vet, we were informed that she's in renal failure. We started her on a special diet with supplements and her energy has been incredible since.

At least once a day - and that's saying a lot for a cat this age - she runs around the house like crazy and scratches up the chairs.  Not our favorite activity of hers, but we're glad she's feeling so much better.  Her favorite activity is getting brushed.  If we leave the brush out, she loves to rub her face against it until we notice and give her a few brushes.

After a long, neglected life in a garage, we were surprised when she started jumping on our laps to curl up and purr.  She sleeps at the foot of the bed every single night and wakes us up by walking all over the bed and meowing for breakfast.  Simply put, Sitka is the most affectionate and sweet cat we've ever had and we look forward to at least a couple more years of her loving company.  As far as we can tell, she doesn't even know how to hiss.  Because of her various health problems, (she had E.Coli) we've had to hold her down to stick pills down her throat and poke her with a needle to give fluids. Despite all this, she has never once tried to bite, hiss or scratch.

Sitka now leads the plush life, splitting her time between the sofa, the bed, her food and the litterbox.

Melanie and Gus

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