Goldilox (Goldie) is a 13-year-old Domestic Longhair cat in Berrien Springs, MI, who needs $910 for extensive dental surgery.

I first saw Goldie as a feral kitten, playing with his siblings behind the local cafe (very small town). He was such an incredibly beautiful kitten, long bright gold hair, that I contacted the lady I knew who fed them (I was already a cat rescuer of many years), and told her that if she was able to trap him I would take him . She showed up a few days later with four very wild, freaked out, scared kittens, one of which was my Goldie - they were around four months old with no human contact except the command to run and hide from their mom. I had some experience with feral adults, living with one then who I had never been able to touch with his permission, but he answered to his name, went out at will and stayed with me of his own choice. So I wanted to see what I could do with feral kittens.
The trapper told me she had someone who wanted to adopt the gold one but she had taken him there first and he nearly tore the lady's hand off when she tried to handle him, so they wanted me to gentle him first! I felt clueless but agreed to take them all in.

All four kittens went into the bathroom, with the carrier in the tub for them fo hide in when I came in to take care of them, talk to them, try to work with them. I started serious research on what to do next but found very little on the internet at that time, 2006. Four days later the trapper showed up with two more kittens that looked just like the others, black or gold, so I thought they were all siblings. Life in my household began to revolve around The Six Amigos, as they were called at first. The local rescue group, Animal Aid of Southwestern Michigan, got involved and helped with vaccines, vet appts, s/n, and I hauled all six kittens everywhere - the original four stayed really wild, the latter two settled quickly so I started letting them into the main house, where I had 11 adult rescues and a big dog (who was also a rescue, but thought she was a very large kitty and helped me find other kitties to help). The six amigos were eventually named Baby, Frederick, TeenyTiny, Sonny, Fuzzy, and Goldie Lox, who is now the only one left. None of the wildest ones ever settled enough to be adoptable, and maybe I didn't care, I loved having them in my home, we had a large fenced back yard and garage/pole barn they could hang in, and one by one they became approachable. I chose to take the long road of loving them into homebodies, and it worked on some level for each one, though Goldie was the most suspicious and wild of them all.

One day when he was about a year old someone left the back door open by mistake, and he got out (I didn't let them go in and out on their own yet). I looked for him frantically, calling his name, searching everywhere, was sure I had lost him forever. After a day, I was in the garage calling and I heard a tiny mew from the rafters above. He had finally gotten hungry enough to respond to being called, he knew his name and who fed him! I could not get near him so I put out dry food and water on a bench. He had no trouble coming down and eating when I was gone, and we did this dance for three days before he would eat with me close enough to him to pick him up and bring him inside. Because I thought the lady who trapped him had experience handling wild cats and kittens, I let her help me corral them for shot appts and she freaked them out so badly it was from then on impossible to handle them unless they chose to come to me, and actively seek me out, which they all eventually did.

Goldie remained suspicious and skittish, barely being willing to have me pet him a little when I gave him his wet food (my way of being able to medicate the cats), and vanishing whenever anyone else came into the house. During those years, over 30 of cats stayed in my bathroom and moved on to various placements as homes were found, even one or two more ferals, who ended up joining our clowder. I learned to love without touching, and how to show love from a distance, and they learned to trust and love back as much as they were able.

When Goldie started to have pain on eating, he became more approachable as I had to coax him to eat and provide soft foods that didn't trigger the pain as much. He had two dental treatments during those years and some extractions but stomatitis was a very new diagnosis and full mouth extraction was not yet the primary treatment, as well as the cost was beyond my ability to pay. I myself was having health issues and had several surgeries. I finally found cbd oil, and it made a major difference for him, he even became a lap kitty occasionally. Then I lost my house, the bank refused to renew my mortgage (maybe because I was a determined cat rescuer and my next-door neighbor did not like the cats and wanted the property for his business). I finally found a trailer park who would let me have eight cats (everyone else had passed by then) and moved to a park nearby. We had barely started to settle and there was a flood, we were all evacuated for over three weeks. Our local animal shelter came and took all our pets to safety, we had one hour notice to move out, it took three officers and myself, and a trapping loop to catch Goldie. By God's grace, he was not having mouth issues at that time and was able to eat the dry food the shelter fed him.

His stomatitis flared up badly again once we were home, and I increased his cbd oil and consulted with my vet on the phone. By then we both knew he needed fme but I had no idea how to raise funds, or where to find funding for such a big expense. By then the only way he would eat was on my lap, feeding him a fingertip at a time to get started, he was and is afraid of all food and food dishes, but can be coaxed slowly and gently to lick food off my finger. I became an expert on what kinds of food work, only certain textures, and certain kinds of meat - his favorite is supermarket baby food meats but I am not sure they are a complete meal for him. He now will come to my lap any time I sit in the recliner, so I spend as much time as I can making a lap for him to feel safe in. He has developed other neurological issues over the last three years that may or may not be connected with the mouth issues, this is one thing the vet wants to see him for, to investigate what to do next. I lost my mobile home to the flood as well as my vehicle so have had plenty of time to sit and hold him. We just recently moved into a better mobile home replacing the moldy one from the flood damage). All the cats and I are doing much better out of the mold but the stress of the move triggered a stomatitis flare for Goldie that nothing would calm. When he hadn't eaten for three days, I gave him some pain medicine one of the other cats had not used up after his dental extraction, and within five minutes he was eating! I realized I needed to make an appointment and take him in and started praying for the funding while waiting to see my vet. I see the owner of the clinic who has become a personal friend and modifies the bill as much as she can, but it takes a while to get in to see her. She was willing to bring some more pain meds by my home to tide us over until the appt. which is coming up on August 7, 8:30am. I have found new foods that help him eat, but his appetite is still off, and he would prefer I sit and hold him all the time, which I cannot do. I am praying I will be able to catch and cage him for this visit. He is usually pretty good at the clinic, cage intimidation I guess.