Elsa is a beautiful white cat, probably with Siamese genes of some kind, who was found almost dead during the brutal summer on the streets in South San Antonio. A wonderful lady took her in but did not know what the cat needed medically. I said I could take her but needed her to be transported to the Sanctuary.

The rescuer Elsa, who the cat is named after, hired a transport service and had the cat driven to the Sanctuary.

I was there to receive Elsa upon her arrival and the cat was barely alive. She did not lift her head when I picked her up and her breathing was shallow. Upon first glance, I realized she was infested with fleas and her gums were white…clearly this cat wasseverely anemic. She was not interested in food when she first arrived so it was straight to the bath. I bathed Elsa in warmwater and she laid in the sink like no cat I have ever seen…it is not normal for a cat to allow herself to be submerged in water.

As I bathed Elsa, I kept checking on her to see if she was still alive as she did not move at all. Hundreds of fleas came off poor Elsa during her 45-minute bath. Once I dried her off, I placed her in the warm sun and began to comb her with a flea comb. It was unbelievable how many live fleas remained on this poor cat. I put the fleas in a bowl of water to ensure their demise and by the time this process was complete, the bowl of water looked like a bowl of fresh blood…Elsa’s blood, that the fleas consumed. The fleas were literally sucking the life out of Elsa.

After Elsa was clean and free of fleas, we began to address her medical diagnosis: Elsa was severely anemic with ocular FIP. For the anemia we supplemented her with an iron tincture and nutritious wet food. For ocular FIP, we had to transfer her to a medical foster for closer, intensive care.

After 3 months with medical foster, Elsa has recovered fully from anemia and ocular FIP! Her medical foster is adopting Elsa out through their stringent adoption protocol. We are so grateful to all the different individuals involved to save Elsa and give her a second chance at life! She is truly a new cat with a vibrant and loving personality. Stories like Elsa provide such motivation and encouragement to continue to help cats in need.

Take a look at what she looks like now!