As is often the case with rescue pets, Bella came into my life unexpectedly. I wasn’t looking to adopt a new family member, but from the second I brought her into my house, I knew that she was here to stay.

Bella was a stray living on a golf course where, unfortunately, she was considered a nuisance because she was getting into the garbage cans to find food. The mess she made foraging through the trash was a problem, and shooting her was suggested as a solution. I had a friend working at the golf course at the time, who thankfully was able to catch the distrustful and terrified cat, and brought her to me.

When I first met her, she was approximately two years old and only 2.5lbs. A normal weight for a cat is closer to 9lbs., so Bella was quite literally skin and bones. My vet and I weren’t particularly optimistic about her chances of survival. Two days after I got her, she miscarried a kitten. I took her back to the vet, where they did an X-Ray and while, thankfully, they didn’t find any more kittens, they did find something large and unidentifiable stuck in her intestines.

They scheduled her for surgery, while warning me that they weren’t sure that she would survive the procedure, and found a hardened mass of plastic garbage bags lodged in her intestines. This was the cause of her extremely low weight, as this blockage had prevented her from eating and properly absorbing food.

Today Bella is a normal weight, and has gone from a skittish stray to a loving, lazy house cat. Bella’s story is proof that no animal is beyond hope, they just need someone willing to give them a chance.

Submitted by Amber W.

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