We first saw Felicity at the SPCA nine days after she had been surrendered. She was in a communal cat room, perched atop a scratching post platform, facing the wall, her nose only mere centimeters from it, her entire body shaking uncontrollably. She was the picture of a terrified creature trying desperately to pretend she was somewhere else.

When we returned to the SPCA the following week she was nowhere to be seen. When we asked about her we were told she was in quarantine, sick with upper respiratory disease. We were lucky enough to have her released to us that day, and we took her straight to the vet. Felicity was terribly ill with feline Calicivirus. She was severely underweight, noticeabley depressed,and had strings of drool coming from both sides of her mouth. She refused all food, and any oral medication caused her to drool and retch violently.

We worked with Felicity, patiently administering subcutaneous fluids and medication for the better part of two weeks, offering her food that was always rejected, watching with despair as she continued to lose weight. But she was a fighter. Even at her weakest, she struggled to carry on, and complained at every veterinary indignity that we administered in the hopes of making her well.

And she survived. She lost over 3lbs, but she pulled through, she fought, and she recovered. It took almost two months to get her back on track, and she is still thin today. But she eats on her own, she grooms herself, she purrs as she sits on your lap, and every day she gets stronger and healthier. She is a beautiful cat with her whole life ahead of her. But her previous owners almost killed her by dumping her at the SPCA.

Felicity got lucky. For every Felicity there are thousands who don't make it. For every Felicity who is lucky enough to get out, there are thousands who are dumped at "shelters", get stressed and sick, are deemed "unadoptable", and are killed at the hands of strangers, terrified, confused, abandoned by the humans they loved and trusted.

We wish we could help all the Felicitys of this world. Even more though, we wish for an end to pet abandonment. Felicity lives today as an example to us all. She survived, and trusts the humans in her life today, despite the fact that she was failed horribly and suffered tremendously at the hands of her previous "owners".Our greatest wish is for no more Felicitys.

The greatness of a people can be measured by how well it treats its animals. Felicity would ask that you treat any animal in your life as if they were your dearest friend. No one would ever abandon their friend to a stainless steel cage and an unknown fate at the hands of total strangers.