Taking a Chance

One morning on a freezing cold day in December, 2018, Sunday Sheryl and I pulled up to Third and Central, one of my 20 locations, to do our normal feeding.  Sheryl said to me "look at that cat" and I did and saw that it looked close to death.  Very emaciated, and very sick looking.  My first reaction was to take it to emergency (it was 5 am.) to have it looked at and eventually maybe put to sleep out of its misery he looked so bad.  Sheryl, who who already had so many kitties herself of her own to care for, said 'let me take him and see what I can do.'  That morning, I called around and found ARK was open that day and we booked him an appointment.  After several medications, and a LOT of TLC by Sheryl, CHANCE was saved.  Not one of my finest moments...  I have my limitations.  I just can't save them all and some are so serious, and suffering, I have had to make this terrible decision many times.  So many variables that people don't understand.  But nevertheless, I for one am glad Sheryl helped out in this situation and there is someone else who is very glad, and that is Chance's mom! She wrote me recently and wanted to share his recent adventures since being rescued.  Chance is now named Tobin Chance.

Chance just after being rescued
Skin and bone.

Hi Aunt Janine! It’s me Tobin Chance! I just wanted to catch up to let you know I am doing good in my new home. It’s been about 4 ½ months and I am finally starting to settle in. My mom keeps telling me she is starting to see cracks in my cat armor. When I first got here, I spent all of my time in my room and I hid under the bed a lot. Then I left my room and would hide in the basement. I was always crunched up in a ball and squinting my eyes (mom calls it the “stink face”). Now lay on my side stretched out and sleep like I am relaxed. Mom says it is nice to see my beautiful bright green eyes now. I like to spend time in the back living room (mostly because the dogs don’t come in there much), but I have 2 big windows, 3 snuggly beds and my brother Teddy likes to hang out in there with me. In the afternoon on sunny days, they open the front door and I like to sit in the sunbeam. In the evenings I like to sit on the landing and look out on my new family in the living room, then I will go up and lay on mom and dad’s big bed. Things are going better at the litter box, and I am using it every day now. (My mom says I am about to jinx it!) I am still on steroids, and hoping to come off them soon. The vet says she thinks I might have something called IBD which is causing my troubles. My mom says she’s not sure of that, but whatever it is, we will get through it. She thinks it might be due to everything that has happened to me (including those yucky worms which are finally gone) and it is just taking my body a long time to heal because I was really sick for a long time. You might remember I only weighed 6 pounds. Now I weigh 11.5!

I am still not a super fan of being held but my mom picks me up every day so I get used to it. At first I used to squiggle a lot and when she put me down she would say my dismount was terrible – I kicked my feet everywhere! I even scratched her good a couple times by accident. Now she picks me up, I settle down and I even purr. I didn’t like to be petted when I first came, but now I like to have my face and back scratched! It makes me purr and knead my bed. I am eating good, I get canned food and dry food every day, and I sure like that crunchy food.. and snacks! I love them! She keeps my food in the laundry room so when I hear that door open I come running in the kitchen (if she is just doing laundry she gets the stink face until she gives me a snack). I am not sure about living with 3 dogs sometimes. The smallest, Jake, does not pay me any mind. Cookie, the oldest, wants to lick me in the face because she likes me so much. But I just don’t know about that Violet. She’s loud – she likes to bark a lot (at anything) and will try to poke me with her nose (then she gets in trouble). They still make me nervous sometimes, but my mom watches out for me. Some days I am feeling brave and will sit with all the dogs around me – when they are quiet, they are not so scary.

Chance and Teddy

Sometimes my mom is able to work from home and I really like that! If she works at the kitchen table, she will pull a chair up to the window and I will get up there with Teddy and look out. It’s nice to have someone home during the day for me to visit. She calls me the “Cat Ninja” because I am so quiet. Before she knows I am there, I am climbing up her chair to say hi. She never hears me sneak up on her and when I talk I have a tiny, quiet voice. I have lots of toys and I like to play! That really helped me to work on being so timid – I would get playing with my toys and forget all about being shy, so she makes sure I play every day! I even like running around with Teddy! When I first met him I ran and hid, now we are getting to be friends. Mom was surprised when I stole a snack from Teddy the other day – I never would have done that before. I have lots of scratchy boards and a big post, but I don’t like to use them. I prefer to pick at the area rugs, but mom doesn’t like that (she wags her finger at me and says “young man, stop that!”) She found a left over carpet square and put that in my living room. She’s sure smart because I like that one and don’t scratch the good ones anymore.

Mom says it is fun having a “youngster” in the house again (I am the youngest at 5, Teddy is 15!). She thinks it’s amazing I can jump from the floor to the bed and laughs when I run down the stairs really fast in the morning to go get my breakfast. I sure like my new home. My mom tells me she hopes I like it here because I am going to be here for a long time.

Thanks for helping me and all the other cats like me.

Tobin Chance

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

"Keep rescuing animals.  

You may lose your mind, but you will surely find your soul."