My name is Fennel!

**ADOPTION FEE PARTIALLY SPONSORED

If there is one thing you should know about Fennel, it is that she is a survivor! However, there is so much more to learn about this gorgeous and feisty tortie young female.

Fennel is a shining of example of "tortitude." She can often be seen at the scene of the crime -- wherever there's chaos, there's bound to be Fennel. Despite this, she is an exceptionally loving cat towards humans and even now as an adult, enjoys being held, carried, and will never say no to a shoulder ride.

Midway through December of 2023, we did Fennel's intake. She and her sisters presented as perfectly normal 12 week old kittens. However, while they quickly completed their quarantine, vetting, and went on to get adopted right awake, she began showing concerning symptoms.

For months, we sought out different vet opinions for her and cycled through several treatment options. She'd regain her appetite, her fever would diminish, and we'd dare to hope that we were finally out of the woods with her. But it never lasted long, and she repeatedly worsened, a vicious cycle that we began dreading. We were at the end of our rope, unsure of what exactly was wrong but also unwilling to continue to let her suffer. Difficult conversations that we dread ever having to broach were on the horizon as she fell more ill than ever.

And then...she just stopped getting worse. Her appetite held for over a week. She ceased showing her 3rd eyelid. Her fever broke and stayed broken. She started purring again. We made an appointment with one more vet and held out hope that this was it.

And it was!

At this final vet appointment, we were given what amounts to a diagnosis of exclusion of bacterial pneumonia which is very rare for cats to have. The vet explained that with the symptoms Fennel experienced, any other possible diagnosis or illness would require her having passed away on her own by now. The fact that she was improving on her own combined with the history and the way she did not respond to any medications provided bacterial pneumonia as the only option.

He assured us that the worst was over and that we could rest easy. We simply needed to wait and give her lungs, full of scar tissue from the pneumonia, a chance to heal.

Fennel delighted us day by day by initiating interactions, playing, and finally having an appetite to nourish her tiny body. She grew fast and rowdy, and soon we began allowing her to spend her days in the adoptable cat room so she could learn how to be cat again. Because she spent so many months as a kitten ill, she was a little behind socially. She improves every day, however, and is much friendlier and more forgiving towards her fellow cats than she used be.

Fennel is now full vetted and 100% back to healthy and normal. She may always retain some scar tissue in her lungs, but as the body continually heals itself, each x-ray looks better and better, and it does not affect her breathing or mobility at all. She has now been at FFAA for over eight months, mostly due to her extended stay while she was ill.