Tiger Lily

Recently we dealt with a hard decision regarding our cat, Tiger Lily. Since before we got her she has had an occasional issue of missing the litter box. This had been manageable until we moved into our new home in April of last year. As soon as we moved in she started using the entryway carpet. Getting her to always use her litter box was a bit of a struggle but after about a month it seemed as though we succeeded. Unfortunately throughout the next year she would still use the entryway about once every two weeks. She even started using the carpet in the office. 3 months ago Zelda accidentally locked Tiger Lily out from the garage and consequently Tiger Lily used the carpet in the playroom as her bathroom. This seemed to open up a floodgate and she never stopped using it no matter what we did. We cleaned it using several methods, we tried putting her food over there, but she never stopped. This got very stressful, and became a point where it was a health hazard, since for one I’m not supposed to be near cat poop since I’m preggo, and being in the playroom it was always by Zelda’s things. I don’t know if perhaps the carpet had been marked by a previous owners pet, or if Tiger Lily was stressed out, but since we couldn’t get her to stop and it was such a big issue we felt we had to let her go. It was difficult to find a new home for her since most people can’t take a cat for various reasons, let alone with this issue…and some people are unfortunately deterred by her having one eye. So it was looking like the only last step was the shelter. At this point she was living in the garage, of which I felt terrible because of the heat, but if I let her in for even 30 minutes to cool off she would poo or pee on the carpet. Over the weekend I searched for a no kill shelter that had room since the one I got her from was no longer around. I wasn’t having much luck, but I got an offer from a friend who said she knew someone who was a foster parent of kitties that might be able to train her back into just using the litter box. I was contemplating this when I received a call from Jen that one of her co-workers would like to take Tiger Lily. I was happy and relieved that Jen was able to find her a home, yet I was so heartbroken over the prospects of letting her go. However, I knew this was a rare opportunity, so I took it…being that it has been so hard to find her a new home, and this lady was actually looking for a new cat. I cried a bit before Jen came to pick her up, and tried to explain to Zelda that kitty had to go bye bye. Zelda spent the last hour with her filling up her food & water bowl and bringing it to the cat. It was very cute. When she actually left, Zelda cried for some time saying “Kitty go bye bye. Wanna give hug.”

That was probably the hardest part for me, separating the two. Zelda just adores Tiger Lily. Days before she left, and when I knew she had to be going, I let the cat in to cool off for a bit. I heard Zelda go up to her, give her a kiss and say “I love you.” This made me tear up. Tiger Lily is a great cat, extremely sweet and tolerated Zelda’s toddlerness very well. They were such good buddies.

Tiger Lily is a wonderful and sweet cat who has been in our family since New Years Day 2005. You may first notice her unique feature...she only has one eye. We adopted Tiger Lily several months after losing our cat Morrissey to feline leukemia. Tiger Lily had originally belonged to a retired artist, sharing a home with another cat and a peacock. When he passed away, Tiger Lily was rescued by a local no-kill shelter. They had her for almost 7 months, unfortunately no one showing interest for her, when I found her on petfinder.org. She was perfect for what I was looking for. I am glad we were able to give her a good home for the years that we had her. She has been an enjoyable companion.

I’ve last heard that she is doing very well with her new family. They have a bunny rabbit, and apparently they play together. I really hope things go well for then and that Tiger Lily enjoys the rest of her years.