Iris [redux]

Rose says: Iris came into my life about a month ago. My boyfriend and I went to the city shelter to adopt a friend for our five year-old cat, Julian. We looked at dozens of cats and kittens, but it only took a few seconds for us to realize Iris was the one. When we met our little girl, she'd just come in off the streets of New York City with a horrific eye infection. Her eye was so swollen and infected she couldn't even close the lid around it. At almost 12 weeks, she weighed just over a pound, so even though the eye had to come out, the shelter was scared to put such a tiny baby under anesthesia to do the surgery. Despite her awful infection, Iris was the happiest little cat we'd seen all day! She was running around and playing like nothing was wrong. Luckily, Iris was able to get her eye removed not long after we met her, and we took her home that same night. Unfortunately, the shelter vet had never done an eye removal before, and he took out a little too much skin, leaving her with a slightly exposed tooth which you can see in the photos. (She's so cute though that it doesn't matter! We like to think it makes her look like a little pirate.) We were worried the poor thing would be in pain and frightened after undergoing major surgery and moving to a new home in the same day, but she pranced right out of the carrier and was ready to play with all her new toys, cuddle with us, and most of all EAT! She's become a wonderful addition to our family and couldn't get along better with Julian. She loves to curl up on the fuzziest blanket in our house and purr like an engine!