GIGI

Rescued in November 2013, aged 3. Tested FeLV/FIV NEGATIVE.

Abandoned. Found in distress roaming the streets. Microchipped. Outdated data, owner could not be located. Family had moved away leaving her behind.

Rescue Story

We saw a sweet calico hiding under some bushes, but she was terrified and aloof so for days we couldn’t get near her.

We brought her water and food ever since we spotted her, and we’d check on her every day. 

For a few days she kept hiding in the same place but then she started roaming our neighborhood. She was most probably looking for her owner, trying to find her way back home.

We wanted to take her in but she was constantly looking for “something” or “someone” so she kept roaming the streets day in and day out, trying to get into homes and getting shooed away from every place.

She used to follow a teenage girl who would play with her on the sidewalk from time to time.

We approached the girl to ask if she wanted to take Gigi to what she replied: ” I’d love to but my mom says she’s a street cat, too dirty and probably full of fleas, so my mom doesn’t want me to bring her home.”

We tried to explain to the girl’s family that she was not a “dirty street cat”, that she was abandoned and now she just needed a second chance to find a good home, but they said they were not interested in keeping her.

Gigi kept on roaming the streets out of hope until a few days later we found her on the top of a car, calling out for this young girl but she never came out.

The hardships of the streets had already taken a toll on her, and Gigi was starting to look very weak and desperate, so she finally gave up and accepted our help!

 She let us get closer for the first time, so we grabbed her and took her in.

UPDATE

We took Gigi to the vet to have her tested and spayed but we found out Gigi is microchipped; although her owner’s contact info is outdated and cannot be contacted the vet said they cannot do anything without her owner’s consent.

Before we could do anything to help her (test her, spay her, etc.), we had to file a report just in case someone was looking for her, but nobody was!

As we investigated a bit further trying to contact Gigi’s family, we found out her owner was a foreign woman who had moved back to her country of origin a few weeks earlier, leaving Gigi behind presumably on the way to the airport as she was found roaming the streets of a location nearby.

Once rescued, Gigi started to act a little strange; she was going into heat, so we could basically say that by rescuing her in the nick of time we have saved not just her life but a few more lives as well.

In January 2014, we could finally update her microchip data and became her new “owners” so we could finally have her spayed!

Due to a profound depression that lower her defenses, Gigi suffered serious complications during spay surgery and we almost lost her. She spent 24 hours in the ICU and miraculously survived.

After being released from the vet hospital, little by little with lots of love and TLC we nursed her back to health.

UPDATE

It took her over a year to settle and many more years to trust humans again, but Gigi finally made it. 

At the Sanctuary, Gigi has learned to trust again and here she has found a forever home, a place where she feels safe and loved, as she deserves.

UPDATE 2023

Gigi is now 13, she has been a resident of the Sanctuary for 10 years. In 2017 she was diagnosed with bladder stones and FIC. Her condition does not require meds on a daily basis, but she does have special dietary needs.