NIGELLA Domestic Short Hair & Tabby Mix Grand Rapids, MI

On July 11th, 2016 I received this email from a wonderful gal who is doing her part to help out the homeless cats in her neighborhood: “Hi Dr Jen, I know you're busy so I'll keep this brief- I feed a feral colony and end up attracting friendly strays from time to time. I've brought some to you in the past and I swear the minute I bring in one, another one appears. I always wait to see if they hang around or seem to have a home, but for the past 6 weeks this grey female has been basically living on my porch. At first she was scared but now she is very friendly; she seems to have been ear tipped. I was thinking of trying to find her a home but in the time I've known her she has been looking more and more sickly with her fur very unkempt, and also she's getting skinnier even though II feed them every day wet and dry food plus fresh water but she's not doing well and she is not comfortable in my house (but I think it's because my cats were hissing at her). She seems young and playful but I can't tell how socialized she is. She loves being petted and greets me by meowing and shaking her tail. I was wondering if you might consider taking in this grey kitty, even just to see why she is sickly? I will include some pictures I took- she is very pretty, I've been trying to brush out all the extra fur I don't know if she's not grooming herself for some reason or?? “

It took a few weeks before we had an opening, but in the meantime Kate combed an entire cat’s worth of matted fur off of her 3 year old rescue (born in the summer of 2013) and managed to fatten her up a bit. I discovered the reason why she wasn’t eating or grooming herself that well was because she had two bad teeth that needed to be extracted AND she was also losing weight from having chronic diarrhea; tests revealed she was internal parasite free so I suspect the loose stools were from the fact she was eating more soupy canned food versus dry kibble. In any case, I was able to get her medical issues under control, and a few days after her arrival I sent this incredibly sweet but painfully shy girl down to Crash’s. Although Nigella really loves people, she is absolutely terrified of everything, including her own shadow. You literally have to pry her out from her hiding spot, but thankfully once you do she slowly starts to melt in your hands and becomes very affectionate. She has a soft, gentle purr and is quick to roll over for belly rubs once she feels comfy, but as soon as anything startles her she high-tails it back to her safe place. It goes without saying that Nigella will need a very quiet, stable home environment to flourish in; she will require a person with patience to allow her to come into her own at the pace she sets for herself. She will need a room to herself, at least initially, as Nigella is all about taking baby steps towards her goal of becoming a brave soul. After a month at the shelter she still wasn't ready to leave the cozy confines of our intake suite, so we let her guide us as to when she was ready to roam. The nice thing about our facility is that there are no time limits or constraints, and every single cat can acclimate and adjust according to his or her own comfort level. We strive to make the Crash’s experience a positive one for everyone, tailoring it to meet individual needs. It doesn’t matter to us how long it will take beautiful Nigella to spread her wings and fly because when she does, it is going to be SO worth the wait to watch her soar!