Salvadore
Legacy Name: Sal

Sal came to live with me in the summer of 2016, after finally being given permission to have a cat in my apartment to help with my depression. I'd initially been planning on adopting an older cat, but that all changed upon hearing about, and eventually seeing her. I felt like I needed to protect this tiny, fragile kitten and I'd do anything to keep her safe.

She'd been saved from an animal hoarding situation where she'd been born and raised in a gloomy bathroom along with several other cats. Her mother, a very young cat, had been unable to care for her and so had rejected her. It was unknown when she was born or even how old she was, but an estimate put her at three weeks.
She was sick and very malnourished, as I'd held her on the car ride after picking her up I'd been able to feel every bone in her tiny body. It was found her back leg had been fractured and this had led to her having trouble fending off her siblings at feeding time. She was covered in tiny cuts and bite marks, with one very bad one close to her eye which had become infected, along with an upper respiratory infection and conjunctivitis. She could hardly open her eyes or see, had a blocked nose and must have been terribly achey, but on that ride home she still managed to give me a tiny, rumbling purr. I doubt she'd ever had the insane amount of cuddles she received that day before, from both myself, friends and vets.

It was then that I decided on a name for her, Salvadore. Meaning 'saviour' she certainly had needed one and in turn, she became one for me. I affectionately refer to her as 'my babbu' or 'Sal-Sal' though, her full name is used when she's being a pain.
That first night home I didn't sleep, I stayed up all night just holding her close and talking to her, giving her as much comfort as possible as all these new experiences must have been confusing and scary.

So began her long road to recovery, I wanted to give her the best life possible and I did everything I could to help, I admit she was spoilt something fierce. Cat trees, toys and treats, if it was recommended for kittens, she got it.
First on the list was getting some weight on the poor darling, while she was able to eat solid food and was quite happy to do so, I was also giving her kitten formula with added vitamins. This made sure she was getting the correct amount of calories needed to help her grow and made giving her antibiotics and the various vitamins she needed much easier.
Luckily kittens heal fast, her cuts healed up nicely and the infections began to fade, and her leg fracture had already begun to stitch together, so all that was needed was to make sure she stayed as still as possible, which was lucky as the vet hadn't got a splint small enough to fit her!

Sal was so quiet and hardly played in the first few weeks, I often found myself checking on her worried that something was wrong, only to find her happily curled up on her blanket watching me. It was around this time she claimed a small tiger plushie that sat on my bedside table as her own. She adored it and would happily carry it around with her and refused to sleep without it. She still has it to this day and I often joke about it being her baby, she carries it around, licks it clean and even calls out in adorable chirps when she can't find it.
Around a month later, her leg was fully healed. To help her get used to using it properly and gain muscle, we'd play in the bath twice a week, she loved chasing after a small wind up fish I'd found for her. The warm water helped soothe the cramps she got from overexerting herself being a hyper kitten. By far, her favourite part was getting to snuggle up in a warm towel afterwards!

Due to malnutrition her fur was rather thin and patchy in places and she really felt the cold. While I waited for it to grow in thicker, she was given small jumpers to keep her warm and she was the most adorable sight in the world. She much preferred to snuggle up under my shirts and fall asleep on my chest though.

It was here that we hit the first hurdle in her recovery, she hated being left alone. She began to develop severe separation anxiety and I'd often come home to find her curled up near the door shaking. She refused to eat while I was out and soon began to bite around her claws when she got anxious, resulting in sore and bleeding paws. As I was often spending hours away at a time for various appointments this became a problem, nothing seemed to help her. I tried everything, leaving the television and radio on, leaving her favourite treats around, giving her a jumper of mine to sleep on.
Thankfully a solution presented itself to me, a fluffy Norwegian Forest kitten by the name of Claudandus. When I first heard he needed a home I just knew he would be the perfect companion to help Salvadore with her separation anxiety. Both were very close in age (only a month between them!) and he was a big, playful softy.

Sal was very unsure at first but all it took was a day or two before Claude was teaching her how to play and relaxing her enough to focus on being a kitten, it was like the two had always been together. After the second time of leaving her alone with him, I came home to find them both curled up together, fast asleep on my bed, calm and happy.

When it came time to have her vaccinations and first worming pill, I learnt just how much of a drama queen she can be. While giving her liquid based medication is fine, pills are a different story. I held her while the vet opened her mouth and tried to give the pill to her, only for her to let out a loud scream. Both of us jumped back, I thought I'd held her too tight and for the second attempt, I held her as gently as possible. Once again she screamed and I have since learnt this is her way of protesting. If you don't like something, scream. Even now worming day is met with loud shrieks of complaint.

A year after she came home she was given the all clear and a clean bill of health, though she is prone to coughs and colds even now and often gets digestion problems when she eats too quickly. She's still on the small side but I wouldn't change her for the world. Seeing her grow from such a small, sickly being into the crazy, camera-loving little lady she is today made me so proud and happy.
The very first thing I ever gave her to eat, a soft cat treat stick that I'd snapped up into tiny pieces and gave her on that initial car ride home is her all-time favourite thing in the world, she gets so excited when she knows I have one. She spends each night asleep next to me, she even has her own pillow and loves cuddles and insists on licking me any chance she gets. Whenever I come home after being out she welcomes me back with small chirps and licks.

Whenever she thinks someone is taking a photograph, she insists she must be in it and will pose until the camera or phone is put away. A workman came to my apartment to take photographs of the windows in preparation for them being replaced and she is in each and every one of them, posing on the windowsills since she refused to get out of the way. She made for a very interesting and amusing size reference!
She's also a notorious headphone killer, I've lost count of the number I've been through now due to her chewing the cables to shreds. All headphones must be kept safely hidden away or they will be brutally murdered by her.

Both her and Claude have really brightened up my life and have since both become my official therapy cats. These past years they have been spoilt rotten and have been amazing, here's to loads more!

In 2019 a little black kitten named Rasputin joined the family, swiftly settling in and spending most of his time pottering around after Sal and attempting to wrestle Claude. He's a little bundle of fire and I wouldn't have it any other way!

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Thank you nobody for helping me get her!