Meet Nova, my emotion support kitty. She was rescued on November 21st, 2017. But before I get into her story, I should give you a little bit of mine.
Growing up I didn’t have a whole lot of anxiety but I did have depression since a young age. I remember always having cats and dogs in my household. I would come home from school and it was pretty typical of me to come home in a down mood. I didn’t have the easiest life at home. But when I walked in the door, I was always greeted by my pets. They were always what made me feel so much better. I’ve never gone more than a few months without having a cat.
So, going away to college was a big change in not only the basic ways of being on your own but in the way, that I didn’t have what helped me through hard times. As I got older, especially in high school, the depression worsened and anxiety developed. Needless to say, the first semester was hell.
I was excited to go home for fall break, just like any other college student but I didn’t know that I would be getting one of the best things that ever happened to me.
That Monday starting fall break, I got a text message from my someone who I refer to as my sister, who lives down the street in my hometown. The text I got had said something along the lines of “I need your help rescuing some kittens from this lady down the street from us.” So, I did! The next day we played the waiting game, this lady was extremely wishy-washy with the time for us to come get the kittens but when we did, we were glad she let us take them.
When you walked into her apartment, it was like it was right out of one of those animal rescue shows! Her apartment had close to nothing in it, her kitchen was almost totally black from being covered in dirt and what was assumed to be mold. The ceiling and walls were falling apart and were covered in nicotine stains and water damage. She finally got all of the kittens into the apartment so we can wrangle them up and put them into the many carriers we had. Since they were pretty much stray cats for the first 6 months of their lives, they were not happy to be put into carriers. The lady was getting extremely scratched up trying to help us but we were able to just grab them by their scruff and put them in the cages.
When we got back to my best friends house, we put the kittens in the bathroom to give them flea treatments and check for ticks or any other visual medical problems.
After we gave the kittens the flea treatments, we picked them up one at a time to try and show them some affection and see how their temperaments were. They were all surprisingly sweet cats and had absolutely no problems with anyone, they were just really scared and didn't know what to make of the situation they were in. Especially Nova.
I guess you can say she kind of gravitated towards me. When I held her the first time, she was shaking. As soon as I started to pet her and just give her some love she totally calmed down and looked at me and did that cute slow blinking thing that cats do.
The more time I had spent with her, the more I knew I needed to keep her. I knew I could give her a good home and that's what I did. We both had anxiety and we help each other overcome it. She very quickly became my little "fur" baby.
My mom didn't like it at first but when I explained how things would work out she accepted it and some might say she even likes her now. When I take her back home with me for breaks, she enjoys it since she has my mom's other cats to play with.
She is now almost a year old, very healthy, and has a ton of personality. She did learn things that help me for when I do get really bad anxiety. She lays on my neck or my chest and starts purring. I have also helped her in the way of giving her love and a place where she doesn't feel scared anymore (most of the time). She is actually turning into a little fuzzy social butterfly.
I don't know what I would do without her now.
She is my 'purr'fect companion!
P.S. Her hobbies include smacking toys into the hallway from under the door, screaming at me when I get home, sprinting the length of the room at 4 am, waking me up by nudging my face with her little nose.
