HarPURR and Cinder

HarPURR and Cinder are a pair with the most purrecious of souls. HarPURR was found outside at about three weeks old when his Momma panicked after becoming startled. His sweet momma cared for him for so many weeks outdoors in Alaska with his disability and was trapped with the rest of her litter at a later point.

HarPURR was brought into rescue with Mojo’s Hope after being contacted by Tundra Cat Rehabilitation & Adoption and Alaska Cat Adoption Team, two local rescue organizations. They knew HarPURR needed a unique place to help meet his needs and the mission of Mojo’s Hope is to assist and rescue animals with special needs. When we took him in, he was just about three weeks old and not eating on his own. We had to feed HarPURR every 2-3 hours for several weeks.

Since I am a teacher, during the day, he was at our fabulous vet clinic and then back with me every night and weekend. When we took X-Rays of his little body, the damage done to HarPURR’s hind area was a long time healed, so our vet thinks he may have been crushed in the birth canal. But due to HarPURR’s warrior spirit, he PURRsevered and continues to do so. When we bring cats into our program, they are always tested for FELK/FIV, and at that time he was too young, so we did not allow him to interact with the other cats in our program. 

In my home, I have three cat-friendly pups, including Cinder who is the most beautiful of mentors. We wanted to ensure HarPURR had socialization with other fur friends so this was critically important. Cinder was a feral pup herself and lived outdoors for the majority of her life, having litter after litter. She was finally caught three years ago and was brought into our MH program for rehabilitation, and she never left. She captured my heart immediately and has been such a powerful mentor for both dogs and cats in our program, so Cinder adopted me! A few months ago HarPURR had an incident when he started bleeding. I brought him to our vet where he stayed all day, but when I picked him up he was showing signs of being sicker, so I ended up bringing him to the ER that evening. He was blocked and needed immediate care. They were able to get a catheter in and flush his bladder, along with diagnosing megacolon. Poor guy! Thankfully HarPURR’s warrior spirit kicked in again and he recovered quickly.

Early on, I started introducing HarPURR to his cart, as the methods Alaska’s KAAATs uses are only positive-based, and I wanted him to associate the cart in the most positive way possible. I slowly scaffolded the steps, first just by showing it to him, treating him or playing and then continued each step until he was comfortable. HarPURR took to the cart rather quickly and was quickly zipping around. Each cat is uniquely different and if he had shown any signs of stress, I would have stopped. HarPURR is a true insPURRation and he just had his 1st Birthday on August 13th and has continuous battles with Mega Colon. 

What a survivor he is and the friendships he is building with the pups, especially Cinder and the rest of the crew is purrecious beyond words. HarPURR is spunky, playful and his true PURRsonality is starting to emerge. He can be Mr. Feisty Pants and then the most incredibly sweet snuggly bug. He has this beautiful ability to make those around him feel loved and apPURReciated, spreading love and joy to anyone who needs it. When he nestles into Cinder and me, purring away and Cinder has that sweet gentle look on her face, all is right in the world and our hearts smile.