pandora

Cat
Persian

Size: Medium
Age: Adult
Gender: Female

Notes: Pandora is a beautiful blue Persian female that has had a tough time in her short 3 years of life. She was dumped heartlessly in a box outside of a San Diego shelter in the middle of coyote country. Pandora managed to struggle out of the box(Pandora's box, hence the name), and hid in the bushes. A shelter worker came by and she immediately came out to be pet. She was pitifully skinny and matted so she received a lion cut at the shelter. In her over three week stay she came down with a cold, was treated for it, and because she looked so pitiful, no-one was interested in her. We saw the hidden beauty in this amazing cat and so she was rescued by Helping Persian Cats. Pandora is the most loving and affectionate girl, she is showing me every day how grateful she is for being saved. She loves to have her belly rubbed gently and will reciprocate with a free handwash or even face-wash if you are into microdermabrasion, ooouch. She is playful, will let you know when its time to eat in her female Rod Steward sounding voice. Unfortunately, after being examined and x-rayed by our vet, she was diagnosed with a condition called diaphragmatic hernia. This condition could have been caused by abuse(kick) or a car accident never treated, a fall from a height, or even congenital. Diaphragmatic Hernia is when there is a rip in the diaphragm and organs that are supposed to be in the abdomen, move into the thoracic area, where they compress heart and lungs. Pandora has lived with it for quite a while and seems to be doing fine with it. She is in good health at her foster home, eating well, playing chase with my cats, grooming my other persian and has impeccable litter box manners. Her condition makes her more vulnerable to being picked up incorrectly, so she needs to be in a adult home only. She sometimes breathes faster when picked up or after getting excited, it is because her lungs don't have a lot of room to expand. Her breathing will go back to normal quickly, when she relaxes. According to the vet, Pandora absolutely cannot be spayed since she has very little lung tissue and that would put her under anesthesia risk. She must not ever have kittens, since the physical strain and the growth of kittens in her womb would further compress her organs - this could end her life. She will be put on bi-weekly hormones to prevent heat cycles(around $20/year). Correcting the diaphragmatic hernia would be a huge risk to her life, first because of the anesthesia risk, since she has only very little lung tissue and also because of the complications after surgery in the recovery time. (Diaphragmatic hernias have the best chance for successful surgical correction in young kittens, or immediately following the trauma which caused the hernia.) After all this was explained to me and after much research and monitoring Pandora closely, I believe that Pandora is living without any pain, she is acting like any healthy cat, has good healthy eating habits, grooming habits, uses the scratch tree with gusto, and is a happy and playful cat. She is also quite a couch potato, so if you spend time watching tv, guess who will be laying next to you? I feel so much love for this little girl, and know that there is a home out there that will be absolutely thrilled to have her and love her and treat her gently. She is a lap kitty, loves to sleep on your bed next to you, makes a great back warmer, and will just soak up your love. Need I go on..........?

If you'd like to meet Pandora, please contact Venita by email.