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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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Most older cats in a shelter struggle to find a home, especially those with medical conditions. But a cat called Kiki found an owner who took her in despite her leukemia diagnosis and can't stop thanking her for giving her new hope.
A post shared last Friday on TikTok by the cat's owner under the username _glamanda_ shows the young woman holding the tuxedo cat in her arms and singing to her "Stand by Me" with a calming, whispered voice.
In turn, Kiki can be seen rubbing her head against her owner's face, keeping her chin up and her eyes partly closed, as she enjoys the song and cuddles.
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"POV you adopted the terminally ill cat that none else wanted and she shows you gratitude every day for it," the caption says.
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In a different clip, the poster says that before adopting the feline she had visited multiple different shelters hoping to make a connection with a cat and take it home. But that didn't happen until she met Kiki.
At the time, the shelter warned her that Kiki had feline leukemia and probably had less than a year to live, but their connection was already so strong that she took her home anyway.
This story has an even better ending. After the poster adopted Kiki, she took her to her vet, who found out that the shelter had done only an exposure test and that she doesn't have leukemia.
Feline leukemia virus is one of the most common infectious diseases in cats, according to Cornell University. It affects between 2 and 3 percent of all cats in the United States and Canada.
Each year, 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, 24Petwatch's Shelter Watch Report found.
Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs and behavior rehabilitation.
The video quickly went viral on social media and has received over 1.9 million views and 538,300 likes.
One user, Camber, commented: "My terminally ill cat lived 12 more years, I pray this for your baby."
Srhrah said: "Cats love singing! The vibrating is like purring so it's like you're speaking their love language."
Aurora wrote: "I cry for strangers every day, and cry even more (and uglier) for kitties."
Newsweek reached out to _glamanda_ for comment via TikTok chat and could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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