SUMMARY:
     Thug showed up as a tiny, injured feral kitten with a huge will to survive. After rescue, surgery, and a long recovery, he transformed into a sweet, playful cat who acts like every day is the best day ever. His story is all about determination, resilience, and joy.

FULL STORY:
     It was a scorching hot July afternoon in Florida. I was sitting in my office on a work Zoom. My desk faces out of the corner windows into our fenced backyard. Something caught my eye… I stood up and saw a super skinny, tiny kitten walking along the fence. His gate was slow, but his will was strong. His body angled forward over slanted legs, and his head pushed forward, as if sheer determination was putting one step in front of the other.    

     I rose to go and call for this little fur baby. I thought to myself, if I call for him, and he comes toward me, I will know someone dropped him off. However, if he runs from me, I will know he is feral. Well, he heard my voice and headed quickly toward the front gate. He was feral.

     The front gate has a dip under it, just large enough for me to slip a bowl of wet food underneath and hope he would stop and eat it. I ran back inside to my Zoom meeting and yelled to my husband what was going on. He went out, and the little tater tot was eating, but he ran back toward our pool enclosure and hid in the ferns outside. We could not find him, so we hoped he would show up the next day.

     The next day, we opened the screen door to the pool area, put some food just inside, and left it open. Our theory was that when we saw him, we would go around to the outside and quickly close the door so we could keep him safely inside. A few hours later, my husband was walking by and saw that the kitten had eaten all the food and fallen asleep under a table by the pool. Be still, my heart.

     Well, he was extremely feral and did not want us to catch him. We noticed that he had a huge abdominal obtrusion…we didn’t know if it was part of his intestines or what. We assumed he needed surgery. The next day, my husband caught him, so I could take him to the animal hospital.

     He did indeed need surgery, but first, antibiotics for a few days. Once he was petted for the first time, he became a sweet little snuggler. Then, we saw just how beat up this little guy was. He had scabs all over him. A section of skin on his side was hanging and drying up over an open wound. The abdominal protrusion leaked fluid that ran down his legs – his back leg fur was completely stuck to his legs, as if it was glued down. As if this were not enough, the tip of his tail was broken. This little guy had been through absolute hell and just kept going.

     His surgery was risky. At 2.4 pounds, around 7-8 weeks old, and barely weaned, he was so small that there was no guarantee that he would survive. But, guess what?!? HE DID SURVIVE!

     We got him a cat tent to stay in during his recovery. He had a huge incision that took weeks to heal, but do not think that stopped him from trying to play. He would roll over on his back and look at his tummy from side to side, as if he was super proud of it and wanted me to pet it 😊.
     Now, he lives with us as the king of the castle. We go back and forth from our house to our boat, and Thug is ready for all the adventures! We discovered he loves playing with water, being on the boat, running around the outside of the boat, and watching the fish and birds. He also carries his toys like a dog, plays with ice, and makes some of the most unique sounds we have ever heard from a domestic cat.

     From the very beginning, before his surgery, after his surgery, while he was healing, and every day since, Thuggie gets up and looks at you like THIS IS THE BEST-DAY-EVER!! No matter what, this guy is going to have fun! You just watch and see😊.

Thuggie’s determination, will, survival instinct, and mental outlook are daily sources of inspiration and a reminder to love life all day, every day!