The Following is the tale of how Pita came to us and stole our hearts!

Recent Picture 5/2/00

  This lil cutie is Miss Pita Pita, as she is known around here. We have had her for a while now. This is the story of how we came to welcome her into our home and the happenings since that day...

  My friends at work have always talked about "the bathroom cat". I felt so bad for this kitty. She had been living in a bathroom for approx 2 years. I mean living too, her litterbox was in there, she ate in there and she had a lil bed in there. The spare bathroom was her home. The couple who owned her before we got her had another cat and a puppy. I guess she would let Pita out every now and then to pet and play with her, but then when she was done...back into the bathroom she went. The story always made me sad. The reason she was living in there, to my understanding was that the girl's boyfriend didn't like Pita...but of course the other cat was ok. I guess Pita got on the counters, scratched everything up, and one time she had a bladder infection and urinated in the boyfriend's gym bag or on his clothes or something. Anyways...these are not reasons to lock a kitty up, these are all part of owning a cat. My friend hated locking her in there but her boyfriend insisted or else he would get rid of Pita.

  Pita besides being locked up wasn't spayed. She was like 4 years old and she was still going into heat all the time. So I knew if we took her in we'd have to take care of that...and we are also a clawless household so those would have to go as well. My friend was talking about seriously getting rid of her but she didn't want to have to put her down. So I talked to my boyfriend and we decided to take this poor lil kitty into our home. We are risking losing out apartment by having 3 kitties...we are only allowed 1.

  So we set up a date for her to bring Pita to my house..... I had heard that Pita was "small" however I did not expect her to look like she did when she walked out of the carrier. I wish I had taken a picture of her that day, but I didn't. She looked so scrawny...malnourished. I don't know she just looked awful. Her fur was so thin and she was literally skin and bones. I cried when my friend left.

This is a photo of the "before" Pita....see below for more Pictures!

  I took Pita to the vet ASAP. I was afraid she had something. I don't know what, but I didn't want my other cats to get sick from her. The vet trip was awful. She went into the carrier ok, and was ok for the car ride. But in the vet...she was scared and she was bad...but she had been alone and abused so it's to be expected. She had ear mites very bad and they gave her some shots. The worse thing about the vet trip was what the vet told me. He asked me why I took this cat and maybe I should consider putting her down. He said that she was unsociable and he didn't think she would ever be able to live with other cats. I couldn't believe it...poor thing. I was confused, I didn't know what to do. So I turned to the internet for help/support. I posted her story on every board and forum I could, and I joined 4 mailing lists. Someone out there had to have had a similar experience.

  After talking to a lot of people on the net, I decided to stick this out and make it work. We separated Pita from our other cats in the computer room...thank God we had an extra room or she woulda been in the bathroom again. :( And we introduced Pita to Zaggy and Skittles slowly. It was a HISS FEST!! We have a VERY territorial male and female here already. The computer room became Pita's safety. She would venture out then run back in here. We set up a litterbox for her and fed here in here too for a long time. The other cats were mad but got over it quickly.

  After a little while we took her back to the vet for spaying and declawing. We should have waited a little longer until she was bigger and stronger I think because she didn't do very well and took a long time to come back to what we knew as normal. But eventually, she got better and healed. :)

  She lived mainly in the computer room for a while. But to me it was better than the little bathroom she was in before. In fact when she was let out of the carrier for the first time she ran right to the bathroom....it was familiar I guess. Anyways...she slowly ventured out into the rest of our apartment...the other cats just needed time to get used to her. I was very surprised when she let me put a collar and bell on her...but she did and is still wearing it today.

  We just recently started feeding her in the kitchen with the other cats and although they all eat in shifts, she does go in there to eat. She has come a LONG way in these past months we've had her and we wouldn't give her up for the world. She is now a part of the family. She even let...well tolerated me giving her a bath a few months ago!

  I haven't talked about how she got along with us. She was STARVED for attention and she absolutly LOVES to be pet. She now sleeps in the bed with us and purrs all night long. I was very surprised that her and my boyfriend have bonded so well since it was a male who abused her. She has her moments still, if she doesn't like where or how your petting her she will bite you, but other than that she is so friendly. She is more friendly than the other 2!

  And how does she and Zaggy and Skittles get along? Well...I think Zaggy and Skittles would like to get close to her and if there was more room in this apartment I do belive it would be different, but there is still a lot of hissing and chasing going on. Mostly by Pita, the hissing that is...and Zaggy is guilty of chasing. But they seem to tolerate each other.

  Would I do it again? Heck yes! I'd save another kitty in a minute if we had the space. To see her transformation was so great and I really feel like I did some good :) So, I'd do it again...and I may when we move into a house...then i'd have 4 jingly bells!!

  Below are a few pictures of Pita as she is today, and another from before. Thanks for reading her story. And please....Stop the Abuse!

Another before picture.

This is kinda dark, but she is enjoying a lil catnip!

Another After Picture!

Here is a link that has a lot of other links to Animal Abuse information on the Net.
Special Causes

It's a great site for these types of links!