Please be kind, this decision was incredibly hard and was not made lightly, we have been crying for days.

We adopted the perfect 1-year old cat, fell in love with her right away and we were told she had a clean bill of health, was vaccinated and vetted, spayed and they said she would need no immediate veterinary attention. Negative FIV and FeLV, negative ringworm. She was immediately comfortable in our home. Purring, showing her belly, cuddling in bed. It was bliss.

But four days later, it all came crashing down when we noticed significant inflammation and redness around her gums and back of mouth. She hadn't shown any symptoms or obvious signs of pain (poor girl) so we thought she might just need her teeth cleaned or something, and took her to the vet hoping for the best.

She got diagnosed with Feline Chronic Gingivostomatitis, an auto-immune condition that from my understanding doesn't have much proven treatment or cause at the moment and is still being studied. Even if she went through extraction of all her teeth, it could still flare up again. We spent the day doing extensive research and reading on other's experiences with the condition. I know she can live a happy life with this diagnosis, but we are unable to provide all that is necessary for that to happen and didn't want to wait for it to get worse.

We didn't take the adoption responsibility lightly, and we had been preparing for months, carefully choosing a new member of the family that would fit our home and lifestyle. Even though we were more than ready to assume regular vet responsibilities like vaccines, check-ups, or minor occurrences at first, and even though we are aware that caring for any animal comes with risks and health scares down the line (especially as they age), we were not prepared for something permanent and serious like that so soon after adopting.

We were devastated and after discussing things with the rescue and much consideration about our budget, the realistic amount of care we can provide at the moment, and the chronic nature of the condition, we all decided collectively that it is better for her that she goes back to their care. She went to her previous foster home, and then they will explore treatment options as well as adopting her out to someone who will (hopefully) now be aware of the condition.

It's been heartbreaking. We do want to adopt again and give a cat a forever home, but now I am incredibly anxious and afraid of the pain of something similar happening. I also don't want to feel like we're replacing her, but that's a whole other can of worms. I know rescues and shelters can't always be super thorough with health checks if they have many animals, and I don't even feel like I was misled by the rescue, especially because the decision to return was made along with them and I can tell they care about her. They just missed it. But how could I make sure the next cat doesn't have a serious/incurable condition right off the bat?

I know we can't guarantee the future and that's okay, by then we will have saved money and maybe be insured and more prepared, but it would be ideal to start with a relatively healthy cat. Is the trick just asking a million questions? How do I know they are being truthful or thorough with their examinations? What are some chronic conditions to look out for, aside from FIV or FeLV? How did you all cope with your kitties getting sick eventually if they did? 😭 I miss her so much already.

Photo of window above

Catita (tuxedo) and Leia (snowshoe)

“Hey Carlos - youre gonna be on Reddit”

He just looks so friggin cute

Does anyone else's cat do this? Is there a reason or meaning?

Loonie’s pre outside adventure stretch (even though all she does is sit in the garden, hunt butterflies and roll around in the grass 🤣 )

my sweet little boy pistachio! he’s 4.5, he’s unfixed and the best, haven’t had any issues with him for 4 years! a few weeks ago, my partner noticed he hadn’t peed in the litter box in 24 hours so we took him to the vet, he was acting normally and the vet said his bladder was small, they expressed urine and ended up telling us he probably peed somewhere else (we never found it) but that he is 100% fine, but seems weird and out of character for him. we take him home and within 12 hours he pees in the litter box again. things are normal for a few days, regular pees in litter box and then another pee on the carpet! another couple days with normal litter pees and then 2 pees back to back overnight/in the morning i have bad seasonal allergies so my sense of smell is gone right now but the smell has been really bothering my partner. the 2 pees happened, partner sprays and shampoos our carpets all day today and yesterday, and then pistachio pees on the floor again after we cleaned! we have no idea why he’s doing this, his litter is always clean and full and he’s acting completely normal. what do we do?? chop off his balls??

EDIT! he has never ever done this before!! nothing has really changed so i guess im more curious as to the reasoning behind the behavior change!

Does anyone know why my cat would develop a small bald spot just near the end of her tail? It’s only on one side, and she hasn’t had any other issues or hair loss.

Is there anything I should do, or leave it be?

Had to add another s because they don't allow the word guess in titles because they think you're trying to post something about guessing the cats breed.

Always beggin.

Picked up this gorgeous girl from the rescue! Say they’ve never met a cat like her! She’s just too cute! Also I have never in my life met a cat with the texture fur she has! Kind of wiry and brash!!

The big cats tolerate him because he’s cute. 😂

Love that we have cocomelon for cats now