The fate is following you no matter where you go and what you do. Some people, or cats, in this case, come into our lives to ease our pains and to be taken care of in return. It’s a big question out there who saves who, but in the end, the point is that everybody is happy. Anastasia is not a princess, but her destiny is worthy of one. As for her kingdom, now she has one!

• NAME: Anastasia
• NICKNAME: Patatina
• AGE: 2 years old
• BREED: Calico
• FAVOURITE FOOD: Anything… fishy
• FAVOURITE TOY: Anything that gets her attention
• RESIDENCE: Rome, Italy

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? 

It was the end of Summer 2016 and I was still extremely sad for the loss of my beloved (cat) Pandina. She had been happily living with my mother and her other cat, Bruttino for 12 years. A nasty cancer took her away in just a few weeks.

I decided that it was time for me to try to recover, and the best way I could figure out was adopting another female cat, only this time she would live with me. I quit my job some years before and I was not travelling much anymore, so I could take care of her properly. I looked up for cat adoptions on Facebook and in September 2016 I found this 8-month old Calico cat (a regular European cat, but for the fur, which is red, black and white). She was in Naples, temporarily hosted by Anastasia, a young lawyer who dedicates all her free time to saving cats in trouble.

Anastasia - The Teenage Cat Mother 

Anastasia, the cat, had been found two months before, heavily pregnant notwithstanding the young age and the tiny size. She had given birth to three alive kittens for which the young lawyer already found a home, but it looked like nobody wanted to adopt the mother.

It was love at first sight. I contacted Anastasia and she explained to me that after the delivery, the cat got an infection, but luckily, she survived. Now she was healthy and in need of a family.

See Naples and Then ... Move to Rome 

I drove to Napes and I took her back to Rome. I named her Anastasia, out of gratitude for her saviour. After a few days, I started calling her Patatina, and the nickname stuck.

One year went by and we were very happy. Anastasia/Patatina was lovely, sweet and naïve, very clean and very quiet. She loved playing with rubber balls and toy mice, and she devoured any kind of food, as long as it was fishy.

She loved sleeping next to the radiator in Winter and on the balcony in Spring and Summer. Regular taste for a cat! I got her three or four different soft cat beds so she could change often.

Tragedy Avoided! 

On November 30th 20117 tragedy almost struck us. I took her to the vet for a routine visit and found out that her lungs were not functioning well, due to the heavy pression of an abdominal hernia, probably congenital. She was still behaving normally, that is why I had no clue she was sick – but it was just a matter of weeks and her breathing would become impossible. The only way to proceed was an urgent and risky surgery. It went well, but she had to stay in intensive care for several days, that looked like ages to me.

Finally, she was declared out of danger and I could take her back home. One of the happiest days of my life.

Author: Giorgio, Patatina’s Human

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