Bella is a 12 year-old Tortoiseshell DSH in Crestline, CA, who needs $2,000 for Radiation (IMRT).

(I will copy and paste from the story I have written, I have applied for several grants so had to make everything makes sense!)

Bella is family. I first met her in 2008. I had moved to California from Minnesota, with no friends or family out here. It was a terrifying experience but one I felt was necessary. I was recovering from my most recent episode in a 12 year battle with depression which had involved a suicide attempt and hospitalization and a fresh start felt like my last hope.

I spent nearly three hours in a shelter searching for a kitty companion for my new life, and it was impossible to choose just one. My goal was to save a cat that would otherwise not make it, therefore I had walked right past Bella’s cage at the front, she was the ‘featured’ cat which I assumed meant she would be easily adopted. Eventually however, a worker brought her to me, explaining she was featured because she had been there 6 months and didn’t have much of a chance left. They estimated her age at 10, no one wanted an older cat. I held her and she laid across my left shoulder (her favorite position, right over the heart!) snuggled her face next to mine and we have been inseparable ever since. It even turned out they had vastly mis-estimated her age due to her poor teeth. My 10 year old lady turned out to be a 2 year old girl! She did eventually have to get all teeth removed, except one, so now we sometimes call her snaggletooth when her lip gets stuck over her remaining tooth!

Bella has been a nurse to my father through his open heart surgery and to my mother struggling with multiple health issues and anxiety. Bella is my registered Emotional Support Animal, she accompanies me everywhere and keeps me together when I have a recurrence of depression (now very rare, thanks to her) and reminds me of the simple beauty of life and the healing nature of love. She has been with our family for 10 years, giving of her love, her joy, her purrs, her snuggles and her devotion. She has never held back in what she gives to us, and up until now has never asked for anything in return other than our love.

Bella loves trips and accompanies us by road or plane when we go visit our family in Minnesota, she is a spoiled grandchild! My partner and I have no children and no other pets so she is the focus of the family. Recently when we were trying to figure out was wrong with her and she was on so many meds that made her sick, she lost a ton of weight and was pretty depressed. We road tripped to my childhood home of Minnesota where my parents live in the woods, Bella spent two weeks playing outside and being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa (steak and butter for breakfast even!) and gained all of her weight plus her energy and personality back.