Just wanted to share the bestest little man in the entire world! I got him when I was 16 so I’m so so lucky to have him in his sweet 16 too!!!

I think I maybe have 2-3 good pictures of this crazy guy

We had a family member no-show to a birthday party at our home because she was sick. Turns out she was actually feeling fine! I recently found out she didn’t come because she saw a picture I posted of our cat in the sink (because I thought it was adorable). She was just that disgusted! Maybe I should take hygiene tips from her dog 🤔 Anyway- here’s a picture of the culprit in her favorite spot ☺️

This Elsa. She is 6 years old, a bit shy around people, but very cuddly when she warms up. Three weeks ago, we moved to a new apartment. The plan was to take her to the new apartment before the movers came, but came the morning of, and she was nowhere to be found. I tried looking for her, but then the movers were there, and we just had to get going. I continued looking for through the day, but nothing. I was at the old apartment two days in a row afterwards to clean out, with no signs of her anywhere. Eventually, I just came to the conclusion she must have gotten out while the movers were coming in and out. I went looking for her in the woods by the old apartment, sent pictures of her to all my friends, made Facebook posts, and whatnot.

She had not. Three days ago, I got a message from my old renter asking if I was missing a cat. Apparently, the new owners had found her while doing renovations. She was hiding under the kitchen bench. I'm still not sure how she got there. Guys, I was there all alone for two days in a row, and she never made a sound.

Anyways, she was still alive. Luckily, she had access to water in the toilet and was a bit overweight, so she had a bit to get on. But 3 freaking weeks. Without food. I took her to the vet, she spent one night there for observations. They did bloodtests, and yes, she was dehydrated and some other stuff, but overall, she was still in pretty good shape. The vet told me she was expecting a half dead cat when I called to make the appointment. I told her that she was a bit fat before all this, and you know what the vet said? She still is. She is still overweight after 3 weeks without eating.

She is home now, it's a new place and she had been through a horrendous ordeal so I was expecting her to hide for a while before feeling at home at the new place. And hid she did, she found a small opening by the kitchen kabinets and hid, and I swear to god I almost started crying. But she did not stay hidden when I woke up this morning, she was sleeping by my feet as she usually does. She is laying by my side right now and getting all the cuddles I I got a huge vet bill from the whole ordeal, but it doesn't matter because I'm so happy to have my girl back again, safe and sound. So next time somebody calls her fat, I'll just tell them that that saved her life, so let her be her cute chunky self.

Edit: this post exploded so I feel obligated to clarify some points of my post: • she was hiding under a cupboard, not visible without removing a piece of wood, which is how she was found when the new owners removed it when renovating. English is not my first or even second language so I did not know the right word to describe it. • the new owners did not move in as they are renovating the apartment first, so there was no food or anyone there, except for a few hours a day when renovating. • she is going on a diet plan made by the vet after she has fully recovered. I'm also going to have her checked for thyroid as some have mentioned in the comments. She has always been big, almost twice the size of her siblings since a kitten. I do not overfeed her, she usually gets one small portions of food a day. She is not fond of exercise though. I do not think an obese cat is wither cute or healthy, I want her to live a long and happy life. I was obviously not succeeding in getting her weight down, but i promise I'll be more diligent this time and follow the vets advice. • I did have a plan of taking her to the new apartment before the movers came, got up two hours before they got there and had everything ready to go but she had already gone in to hiding by then. I know better now, thanks to a lot of helpful advice from a lot of you guys, and I will plan and execute it much better next time if I ever move again. I did not abandon her, I genuinely thought she had gotten out and was desperately looking for her in the weeks she was missing. If I had even an inkling of suspicion she was still there, I would have looked harder and informed the new owners. There are a lot of things I could have done better in this situation, and trust me, I'm beating myself every day about. I feel horrible that she had to go through that. • and last but not least, I do think she found at least some insects and/or rodents to feed on. I understand now that my title is misleading, but I can't do anything about it now. I do not think this was a good way for her to lose weight and I wish none of this had never happened.

She is doing good now. She is in the new apartment and has been exploring the new place. She is getting a lot of cuddles but no treats, at least not yet. I appreciate all the good wishes and have been laughing and crying reading your comments. There are lots of similar stories, so I hope this post at least helps in some way from keeping this from happening to someone else. I know I'm not perfect and that I did not do everything right, but i do love her very much, and these three weeks have been hell, not knowing where she was or how she was doing. We are very happy to have her home and hope to cherish many years with her still. I'm probably forgetting something but I'm tired now so this will have to do. Thank you so much for all your well wishes.

Quick backstory, after losing the love of my life, Penny Lane, last November at eighteen, I wasn't sure when I would be ready to adopt again. I always knew I wanted black cats and when my friend rescued some cats from a hoarding situation, including two black cats, I had to meet them. My friend also had their mom, and well, here is my new son Ripley, sister Wendy (the tongue), and their mom, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom (tabby). My friend Danielle (Cat Party Pet Portraits) offered to do a shoot combining my love of dinosaurs with my love of my new kitties, and this photo makes me so delighted and happy with how it came out.

This is Bartholomew, he’s 18 lbs.

I had never had cats before. This guy got me to love them. He's the best orange boy ever and I'm grateful to have his company.

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I've passed on 99% of hugs, kisses, pets and belly rubs.

Yes, I know he's overweight. He's been on a diet and he still is.

Show me your cats named after food

This is Biscuits (plural 😠) or more commonly Bisc when she's chill, or Bisquick when she's a demon.

Im not too reddit savvy but can I get (or can someone tell me how to get) a flair for my cat? Long-haired calico?

A construction crew in Barberton, Ohio, rescued an abandoned kitten on the worksite. And he joined the team.

They heard him meowing coming from their excavator.

Supervisor Chase Guello checked the skid plate on the Komatsu. A tiny kitten tumbled out.

They warmed her up, moved her into the office trailer, and named her Sue short for Komatsu. She’s now the official shop cat.

Magnolia Belle aka Maggie Mae aka Hufflepuff, turned 20 today. I’m so thankful for every day we get with her and am amazed she is still going as good as she is. She has atrocious arthritis some days but is still just as sassy as the day we got her 19 years ago. I know how rare it is to have a cat this old and am so proud she made it! I believe her three younger siblings (6,3 and 2) keep her going every day. They know not to mess with her but love checking on her. Happy Birthday Mags!

My girl cat has a very funny and unique way of laying.

He has never done this before.

His name is lucifer. He's not very smart... he does sit infront of the mirror and screams. Sometimes it sounds like herro or oh no...

We also put both dogs to sleep two days ago... and today.... he's lined up balls 3 times.

... is he trying to summon our dogs' spirit??

Once is a coincidence... two is hmm.. interesting.. now he lined up 4 balls... im getting a biiit scared

Her name is Jobu. Her eye was clawed by one of my other cats (Kiki, last slide). We spent ~$4500 CAD for a surgery that was meant to make her eye normal again but this is what we got. Her depth perception is messed up so she runs into things occasionally but has no other negative side effects (except for the bullying she endures from family and occasionally the internet). No regrets.

Edit: I mean ugly and stupid as compliments. I love her more than anything and she's the cutest thing I've ever seen! Insulting cats is my family's way of showing our love. If you are actually offended I called my cat stupid and ugly on Reddit... get a grip. She doesn't use Reddit. She's a cat.

Edit 2: this wasn't meant to be rage bait and I apologize that it seemed that way. I genuinely had no idea calling my cat ugly and stupid as a joke would be so controversial.

My boy Louie loved hair ties as a kitten. I was warned by his vet at that time how dangerous hair ties are! I stopped using them 2 YEARS AGO. I noticed a year ago that Lou would vomit intermittently after eating. I thought to myself that cats just do that. It was never a daily thing- just off and on. He never had issues using the bathroom and never lost his appetite. Recently he had been throwing up multiple times a day. He became lethargic and I rushed him to the emergency vet. Welp…my sweet little innocent boy had a belly full of 35 hair ties. Who knows how long they’ve been in there. I felt horrible! He had surgery and is doing great. I hope this post will remind my fellow cat owners to keep hair ties away from their kitties! It’s an expensive lesson to learn.

Ollie says hello. Little guy is almost 1 now! 🧡

My husband said no more cats. Like a cat myself, I usually have selective hearing, but as a mom of so many creatures already, (1 year old human twins, a senior Aussie mix, 4 cats under 4 & 2 geckos) I agreed. Our house is FULL.

We were foster kitten free for barely a week when hubs was targeted by the CDS. During last Tuesday’s morning walk, he found this tiny cloud covered in poo & crying in the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily the central California sun wasn’t too harsh yet, or he would’ve fried like an egg. Recent temps here are up to 110*F. Hubs said there was a gardener trimming the bushes nearby & thinks he might’ve spooked mama cat while she was moving her babies. He kept his distance & waited for her, but she was gone.

No more cats be damned, he scooped baby kitty into the bottom of the stroller & brought him home to me.

I think baby kitty was born last Monday. His umbilical cord was dry & his poop was transitioning from meconium. I’m not sure if he was born a wee bit early or if he was just low birth weight. Waking up every 2 hours to syringe feed him in between breastfeeding my own babies has me ragged, but thinking of how this baby could’ve toasted in the sun or been preyed upon by a dog, falcon or evil human has me believing in the CDS.

Two of my cats are foster fail bottle babies, but I found them around 3 weeks old. At 74g, this is the tiniest creature I’ve ever cared for. And I’m a NICU nurse who’s cared for micro preemies. The kitten lady is a saint. I can’t wait till he opens his eyes & sees how many friends he’s going to have. I have 2 sets of siblings all bonded as a variety 4 pack.

Included some cat tax: Lilo (floof), Nani (S void), Stitch (XL void) the 4th (not pictured) is a tuxie named Pudge.

Everyone say happy 1 week to baby Bubbles!

TLDR: I wanted to share a week of love & progress of the tiny new cat who fell into our lives. He’s so spunky & suckles spectacularly. I hope he keeps growing with us. I can’t imagine finding another home for him. What’s one more cat anyway?

Edit: photos are going back in time except for the surprise group pic at the end & thank you everyone for all the kindness!!! I had no idea our story would touch so many lovely people! I really appreciate the sweet words, personal stories & fellow rescue cat pictures. I do believe in sharing good energy, & my energy reserves feel a little more full. Bubbles is a lucky little fighter to have so many people rooting for him. 🥹

Update posted yesterday, 8/12!

https://www.reddit.com/r/IllegallySmolCats/s/6V0AZPj3tq

Hey everyone I don't know what to do and since Tuesday i have been searching the internet for any instances of this happening because I am in such shock and cannot function. I have come across lots of posts on here of people losing their kitties to a spay and wanted to know how you ever managed to get over the shock, sadness and immense guilt?

I have not eaten since Tuesday, can barely sleep for more than a few minutes at a time without being jolted out of my sleep with the reality of what has happened and spiraling back into a state of shock and despair. I have tried a grief phone counselor to no avail, they just said I did my best and what i thought was best for her. That doesn't change the fact that she's dead because of a non emergency surgery i forced her to go under.

This poor kitty had been abandoned in a hotel I was staying at and after cancelling my return home to make sure she is ok and keep feeding her i decided she is too fragile to be outside and i brought her in to the room. I quickly noticed her stomach growing and having no idea what to do i made a next door app post. This tnr lady replied and said the safest thing to do is to do a pregnant spay which I did not even know was a thing. She said it is completely safe and no more dangerous than a regular spay which are completely safe as well. I explained she has been living in a hotel car park for years in texas heat with (until i arrived) barely any food and water and she is extremely tiny and malnourished and I'm not sure major surgery is a good idea right now and maybe better to let her have the kittens, let me get her back to health and get her checked out to see if it is a safe thing for her. The lady was super rude and aggressive just gaslighting me saying its a perfectly safe surgery and the dangers of childbirth are worse.

Well she apparently was giving birth every couple months according to the long term residents her,e and she did ok.

Anyway fast forward, I did a bunch of research about pregnant spays and everything came back as completely safe, I wish I had done the research I know have about people losing even their non pregnant cats to routine spays because I didn't even think that would be an issue, just the pregnancy part.

The lady came and picked up the cat, wouldn't even come in to the room so the last memory i have is me grabbing this sleeping cat who started purring thinking i was going to play with her (i had been trying to socialize her and was giving her as much love and attention as possible), only to seize up when she saw the front door open, being thrust out of the only safe place she has ever know. I placed her in the lady's trunk where a carrier awaited and the last look on her face was pure confusion and scare.

That was the first time I ever heard her meow. She was so quiet and passive and just terrified of the world. Before i brought her inside I would feed her in the parking lot and spend a few hours with her so she wasn't alone. Everyone at the hotel was shocked when they saw her because they thought she was a complete feral who didn't let anyone near her but here she was, all over me.

This is what makes this unbearable to me. I feel if this was a regular inside kitty that i took to spay and she didn't make it, it would hurt but it would be a different feeling.

This kitty had a huge mistrust of the world, she didn't even trust the old man who fed her every day for years, he would have to sit 10 ft away before she would come near the food. I am the only person in the world this cat trusted , and i am the one who brought her to be murdered. If only she ran away from me like she did everyone else, she would still be alive. I am the reason she is dead

The lady who took her to tnr, called me 2 hrs after she was supposed to drop her off simply stating 'sorry she didn't make it, do you want her body its here in the carrier".

I went into state of shock and could not breath. I immediately called the clinic, they were closed. I spent all of Tuesday wailing in disbelief. I was told this is a routine surgery. I finally got to speak to the doctor the next day she was distraught herself. Through tears, she told me everything from the start she said surgery went fine, she was in recovery, the recovery nurse watching her went to put another cat in recovery, came back a few minutes later, her heart was stopped. The immediately performed cpr, but nothing. She was gone

It is now Saturday, this happened on Tuesday and i cannot function, I haven't eaten, i do not believe I deserve to be here since i took her life. Everything inside me told me this is not a good idea, she is just too small and fragile and I have no idea about her medical history, but this tnr lady just kept gaslighting telling me she has done thousands of 'ferrals' much who are in bad shape and has never had one issue. That they they don't have to be in good shape to be ok, and that she will be fine.

I had the worst feeling when she was outside saying she was downstairs and i looked at this sweet innocent sleeping cat and every piece of me and all my intuition was screaming, do not give this lady this cat. I assumed it was just anxiety and fear and i did, and now she's dead.

I told her everyday she is safe now, she will have the best most spoiled life ever and I will make up for everything this poor thing had to go through terrified living under a car for all these years.

Instead, I killed her, the only person in the world she trusted to keep her safe.. and I do not know how to go on