From Raucous to Redemption

Tibido (now Pyro) was a real handful. With love and patience, he has adapted. And his new human shares a vulnerable story of family estrangement, tragedy and happy endings.

RAPS is always happy to receive news of success stories after adoptions. A recent message from April, which involves family estrangement and tragedy, is particularly touching.

She has agreed to allow us to share their story …

I came to take home my nephew from you on January 6, 2024. My estranged sister had died on November 25 approximately, found on November 30 in her apartment with the surviving kitty. Her parents and I were notified of her passing around Christmas.

After no communication for years, I reached out to people who knew her and learned of my two feline nephews through them and through her Instagram. The only surviving feline was in RAPS’ care and about to be up for adoption.

He came to you covered in wounds (I later found out these were self-inflicted) and he was clearly quite a handful, as I was made aware.

After dealing with her apartment I was traumatized and needed to head back to Nanaimo after waiting a week almost for RAPS to open on the weekend so I could attempt to adopt my nephew kitty. You made exceptions for me and my situation and fast tracked my and Tibido’s unification and for that I am forever grateful.

As I picked up Tibido and drove to line up at the ferry back to Vancouver Island, I began to sneeze in my car. I had forgotten I was allergic to cats due to my shock and grief and trauma in dealing with her apartment and retrieval of my furry nephew all happening throughout that week.

In three months, the sneezing went away and I could pet him and touch my face without medical consequence. In six months, after urinating and defecating on two futons, which I had to dispose of, urinating on several baskets of clean laundry (I learned to put away my clothes or be prepared to rewash them) he no longer went outside of the litter box. He still scratched off giant patches of fur and skin which was a mystery until I caught him with his back claws full of skin and hair and realized it was self-mutilation.

After about a year, he no longer attacked me for trying to remove him from countertops (a fight I later gave up anyways). He also only ripped off patches of fur and skin every two to three months or so, and we had become bonded. His extremely ferocious and effective escape attempts slowed and he moved from sleeping at the foot of my bed ONLY when I was already asleep, and gone when I woke, to napping with me and letting me leave the house without running out the door and into road.

A year-and-a-half later, after accidently toppling and destroying my brand new 55-inch TV and a stack of plates from a matching set my aunt had gifted me, he stopped attacking me altogether. We slept together on the daily and he rarely scratched his skin off anymore, maybe once every four to five months would I find a couple of lacerations.

I am now celebrating two years with my baby boy. He is chunky, the vet never forgets to remind me, but he is happy, free of self-inflicted wounds for about six months, the last one being triggered by a new house I believe, and he only had one booboo. He has begun to sit on my lap, he enjoys supervised garden time, my boyfriend loves him more than he loves me it seems, and he has not gone potty on my possessions in over a year or so. He still bites my feet on occasion when he wants attention, but he is a perfect cat and I could not ask for a better nephew. Til death do us part.

I am writing this email because I want to thank you. Thank you for expediting the adoption due to the circumstances. Thank for you taking care of him and bringing him up to snuff medically after what I am sure was a torturous five days for him to be locked in that apartment with my deceased sister. Thank you for not euthanizing him for things he may or may not have done in that time while just trying to survive a horrific circumstance.

I was not a cat person. I was not there for my sister for 10 years before she passed, she may not have reached out but neither did I. Tibido was not only my retribution but a catalyst for change. I will give him the 10-20 years of love and care I was not able to give my sister. And in return I have received love beyond what any human deserves, the unconditional love of a kitty cat who I have watched grow and become perfect and happy despite those times in the early days where I wondered if I could really do this while throwing out the furniture he destroyed and fearing infection day in and day out from the wounds he was giving himself.

Thanks to RAPS and the amazing people who make it all happen, my life has been changed in ways I cannot begin to imagine. Without you guys being there for him, and even for me, I would have never had to the opportunity to take home this piece of my sister which has now become a huge piece of me. The work you do is important. Thankless at times, most likely, but so important.

Tibido (Pyro now, as I kept his name from my sister) has forever changed me and I am currently submitting applications to volunteer at rescue societies and putting money aside for a $250 cat tree for his approximate upcoming birthday so he can lord over me and my boyfriend like the ultimate kitty king he is.

Just seeing how one cat can change so much, from destroying my residence and wounding himself and me, to becoming perfection in a cat when cared for and given love and time has taught me a lesson in life I will never forget.

Selfless and unconditional love and care can create a world where everyone can grow, thrive, find happiness, peace and safety like Pyro has in these last two years.

Please know I am grateful every day I look at his little face, I thank the heavens you were there to take him in for the month he was there.

I just thought you should know on his two-year anniversary exactly how much progress he has made and how much my life and his has improved thanks to you and the work you do.