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| Name: |
Lilly
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Age: |
Six years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Persian mix
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| Home: |
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
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This
is Lilly, or as my husband calls her 'Pie' short for Lilly Pie. Last
July I had to take my beloved, ancient orange tabby and have him put down
while my husband was working out of town. His death left a very empty spot
in our lives, although his sister is very much alive and well. In October
we decided we were ready for another cat and went to our local animal
shelter. I found a sweet, shy boy cat that I really liked. As I was
petting him this little white thing ran up to my husband and started being
very affectionate with him. I wasn't really paying attention until she
started rubbing up against me. I started petting her and then looked down.
I literally shrank away in horror when I first saw her face. I love
animals and have never had that reaction before. She was the ugliest cat
I've ever seen. She had been shaved, so her head and tail were huge and
her body was tiny. She had long legs with muppet feet covered in straggly
hair. Her skin was this strange pink color and her big blue eyes were
literally nothing but two circles of brown mucous. She was snorting and
sneezing, covered in snot. Then I looked down and saw that she had a
yellow tooth sticking straight out of her mouth! But her snuffling was
friendly, and through the gluey eyes she was looking right at us. She had
been at this no kill shelter for eight months and it was clear to us that
she didn't have much chance of being adopted. She was begging us to give
her a chance and so of course we did, and came home with two new cats.
The shelter employees told us that the snaggle tooth meant she was almost
certainly inbred and that she had been very much in her shell at the
shelter. As soon as we got her home things changed. Lilly is very smart
and inquisitive, checking everything out. She loves to stand on her hind
legs and study my turtle in his aquarium, although she never touches him.
She gives everything a pat with her hairy muppet feet, checking it out.
She is full of joy to the extent that she even plays with her food. She
throws it up in the air, catches it with her paw, and then sits on her
hind legs and nibbles like a squirrel. At first we thought the snaggle
tooth was keeping her from eating normally but since then we've seen her
eat and know that she's just being goofy. She is a talker and lets you
know frequently what her opinion is on things and when she wants to be in
your lap. Her tail is like a giant feather and full of dirt that must be
plucked out daily, but it's always moving and is often directly in your
face. She spends a large part of her day sitting in my lap, chewing on my
hair. Her face requires daily cleaning but it has cleared up a lot and now
just gets a little runny. She loves to stick her head in your face and
then sneeze on you.
Lilly is Miss Personality, completely nuts and precocious. She is a lot of
work and is very, very messy. But we wouldn't trade her for anything. She
may be ugly as sin but has become beautiful to us. She and our other two
cats have very much helped us get over the loss of our tabby. Sometimes
wonderful things come in unattractive packages and that is our little Lilly Pie.
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