Ohio Cat Given Away For Free Like An Old Couch Finally Finds The Love She Deserves
She survived a dog attack, starvation, and kidney failure. But when this one-eyed cat was given away for free online, her true journey to healing finally began.
A Life Left Behind
Scrumbolina is a scrappy underdog of a cat who waited far too long for someone to truly care.
Her troubles began long before anyone who loves her today even knew she existed.
As a tiny kitten, she was attacked by a dog, suffering severe injuries that damaged her eye and left a hole in the roof of her mouth.
An Ohio rescue took her in and performed emergency surgery to try and repair the damage.
Given Away Like Old Furniture
She was eventually patched up and adopted into a new home.
However, her adoption came with one strict condition: she would likely need more medical care down the road, as her palate might not be fully fixed.
Sadly, that crucial follow-up care never happened.
Years later, her owners split up, and in the middle of their divorce, neither wanted to keep her.
She ended up posted for free on Facebook Marketplace, tossed aside like an old couch nobody had room for anymore.
A Desperate Plea For Help
That is exactly where a rescuer named Leah stepped in.
Leah runs a rescue and receives messages about cats in need all the time.
Yet, something about this particular cat made her know immediately that she had to help.
The moment Leah actually picked Scrumbolina up, any lingering hesitation completely disappeared.
The sweet cat pressed her face into Leah over and over, as if she had been waiting her whole life for someone to hold her properly.
The Heartbreaking Diagnosis
It was immediately obvious that something was very wrong beneath all that affection.
This wasn’t just a scruffy, funny-looking cat with a permanent wink; this was a little soul in crisis.
At her very first vet visit, Scrumbolina weighed a heartbreaking four pounds.
Her X-rays showed she had absolutely no body fat left at all.
She was so malnourished that the veterinary team had to start her on a strict starvation protocol, slowly increasing her calories so her fragile body wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
A Hidden Struggle
As if her weight wasn’t concerning enough, mealtimes were a constant struggle.
The vet soon discovered the real reason behind her messy eating habits.
She had a hole in her hard palate, likely the same injury from years earlier that had either been missed or simply never healed correctly.
Every time she tried to eat, food would come right back out through her nose.
Sometimes it was so bad that food would get stuck, leaving her unable to stop sneezing.
The Toll Of Neglect
The situation was even worse when it came to drinking water.
She would drink, and the water would come straight back up, meaning she had essentially been unable to stay properly hydrated for an unknown amount of time.
Her previous home had only ever fed her dry food, leaving her with almost no way to get moisture into her body.
That prolonged dehydration had taken a severe toll on her health.
Blood work revealed she was in the early stages of kidney failure, a condition that had been quietly building for a very long time.
The Cinematic Surgery Plan
Suddenly, this tiny cat needed a special kidney diet, daily medication, occasional fluids, and supplements.
It would have been easy to feel hopeless, but Leah and her team immediately got to work.
An entire community of strangers fell in love with this scrawny, one-eyed cat and her ridiculously unbothered little face.
When word went out that Scrumbolina needed a CT scan and a surgical consult estimated at $2,000, her supporters didn’t hesitate.
The entire amount was raised before she ever set paw in the specialist’s office at Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital.
A Bump In The Road
Scrumbolina underwent the operation to finally fix her soft palate, and everyone held their breath while waiting for news.
When she came home after a successful procedure, it truly felt like she was an entirely different cat.
However, at her recheck appointment, the vet discovered that part of her incision had failed to heal.
There had been roughly a 30 percent chance of that happening, and poor Scrumbolina landed on the wrong side of those odds.
A second, smaller follow-up surgery was scheduled, and once again, her amazing community fully funded it.
Quirks And Cuddles
During this time, her team also discovered and treated a respiratory infection, leaving her looking brighter than ever.
Around the house, Scrumbolina doesn’t exactly act like the other resident cats.
She skips the litter box, doesn’t bother grooming herself, and leaves the other felines a little baffled.
What she does do, constantly, is seek out people for love and affection.
She wants to be held, she wants to be close, and she is at her absolute happiest wrapped up in someone’s arms.
The Perfect Ending
At her most recent check-in, she tipped the scale at a healthy 5.7 pounds.
She is filling out, healing, and slowly turning into the cat she was always supposed to be.
Officially, she is still listed as a foster, but Leah has grown deeply attached to this girl who never lost her trust in people.
Unofficially, it is hard to imagine her going anywhere else.
After everything she survived, Scrumbolina finally found the loving home she had waited for all along.
