My name is Hitchhiker (FIV+)!

A scarred face, a bent ear - and a huge heart. That's Hitchhiker, who dreams of a forever home and people to love.

"He's a hitchhiker - just passing through," or so the farmer thought when the cat showed up at her farm. He seemed very rough, maybe feral. But all he wanted was food and help, and he got both.

Now in a 9 Lives foster home, Hitchhiker has revealed his true colors. Coming from a hard life in survival mode, he turned out to be incredibly forgiving, with lots of love in his heart. Having been hungry in his life, he loves food. But what Hitch wants more than anything is a person or two to love him and care for him. Hitch's ideal home would be with a person who is home most of the day, and willing to give a lot of reassurance.

Hitch's personality is confident, curious, and outgoing. He's smart and loves people. He's very quiet and undemanding when he's alone, but happy and vocal when you're with him. We don't know if he would get along with dogs or other cats.

Hitchhiker is also a cat with FIV, which means he has a compromised immune system. FIV is kind of like human HIV - it doesn't "do" anything to you itself, but it weakens your immune system so you're more susceptible to other attacks on your health and can't fight them off as well. There's no cure, but cats with FIV typically lead normal and full-length lives. FIV is passed through deep bite wounds, so FIV-positive cats can live with FIV-negative cats, provided they do not fight. Even if Hitch were to get in a little scuffle; he's missing most of his teeth including all of his canines, as they were severely fractured when he came to 9 Lives Rescue and had to be pulled.

With care, Hitch will be somebody's loving boy for years to come. Fill out an adoption application, and Hitch's foster will get in touch with you to arrange a home visit so you can meet this lovable boy!

Hitchhiker is neutered, vaccinated, tested negative for FeLV, and microchipped.