I am proud of my old guy Rags (short for Ragged Old Man).
I took him off the streets some 3 years ago, him almost dead from starvation and Feline Infectious Anemia . FIA destroys the appetite and he was nearly toothless, needing a dental to remove more destroyed teeth when he was strong enough. He was, we later found out, about 15 years old. To give an indication of how ill he was, the vet told us (my wife and I) to not take him to the vet until we could get some weight on him because one of the muscles that atrophies in extreme emaciation is the heart. A visit to the vet would have killed him from stress.
When we got him to the vet he weighed less than 4 pounds, the vet’s prognosis for him being poor. The vets (it is a clinic) always are astounded at how good he looks and his health, including a heart condition, is getting steadily better. He only has three teeth (one fang), blind in one eye, etc., but he is doing great. Now we weighs a good 9½ lbs. Just surviving, going from a guy who looked like this (I took that pic because I thought he was going to die that night, then wrapped him back up) to this shows that he is a tough old bugger.
Oh another thing that I should not be proud of but I am. We moved in with Keysha’s sister temporarily while Rags was recovering, weighing in at about 7 pounds (still very ill), and he terrorized her sister’s 16 pound, 8 year old, fully healthy cat. He did it just with attitude. The one time the fur flew it was orange (her sister’s cat). I am certain that this cat has PTRD (Post Traumatic Rags Disorder). Yes, I would put Rags in our bedroom so her sister’s cat could come out from wherever he was hiding.
We now live with another of her sisters who has a 4 year old cat. With attitude, yet again, Rags is fully dominant. They get along and play though. It is great to see my 18 year old drop years in just a few months as these two play like kittens.