Featured Fur Monster: Spencer is the Luckiest Basement Kitteh

In November of 2010 a good Cheezburger friend, Rew, started up the Black Friday profile dedicated to black cats and their difficulty finding homes and asked me to help. When I was searching the surrounding humane societies for good black cat pictures to use I came across this adorable little black fuzzball that immediately stole my heart. It was the day after Thanksgiving and the shelter was closed but I did fill out an application to adopt him and emailed it in. The lady from the shelter contacted me the following Monday and said she had good news and bad news.

While I had been approved to adopt a cat, the kitten I wanted was already spoken for. She tried to show me other cats but I wasn't out looking to adopt a cat (there were four living in my house at the time) I just wanted to adopt THAT cat. She said It was important that he would be going to a good home since he had such a rough time already. He belonged to a farmer who had him and his littermates squirming in a pillowcase (along with a brick) and he was just about to throw them into the river when someone who saw what was happening stopped him and took the kittens to the shelter.

While I was happy for the little kitten I was heartbroken that he wouldn't be coming to live with me. Well, the next week the lady from the shelter contacted me again saying the family that wanted the kitten changed their mind and if I still wanted him he was mine! Of course I said YES!!! We drove about 150 miles to the shelter and when I finally met him in person it was obvious why the other family refused to adopt him. He was very sick. This was a small volunteer based shelter out in the country and had few resources to do everything needed for their animals. I took him from the shelter and straight to my vet.

After a few weeks of visits and tests and medicines he was diagnosed with FIP. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis.) Up until then, that diagnosis could not be confirmed until the cat died but there was a new test on that just came on the market. It could give a definite yes or no and he had it. This diagnosis is fatal for most cats and the vet said that if he made it to his second birthday he could beat it, but the vast majority of cats don't make it.

Spencer should have been named Lucky because once again he lucked out and beat the odds! He had a few scares those first few years but is sassy and healthy and of course, thoroughly spoiled and pampered (as is his right as a cat, of course!)

Thanks for the story Booboo22! Spencer is a black kitteh champion (despite the whole assassination thing)!

If you enjoyed this feature and want to submit a story of your own, head to thisblog post. Also, be sure to check out the other FFM postshere!