Leilani’s story: We certainly weren’t expecting to end up adopting another cat, but fate has a way of guiding you

Posted May 13, 2018 by Dana Piccoli (please see footnote by Elisa following this article – this is a Julianne Westberry survivor cat)

My wife Lana and I moved to the Upstate of South Carolina two years ago from New York with our two cats in tow. We never expected to grow our fur family, but before long, Will the Min Pin came into our lives.

Will was up for adoption at the Aloft hotel where Dana worked, and no applications were coming through for her. She was already six and had some noticeable health problems, so she was set up for a challenge.

I really bonded with Will and would have her sit downstairs at her work station during her shift. Once Lana met Willow, it was clear that she was meant to be with us. We adopted her knowing she needed a partial foot amputation because of mast cell cancer, and this past winter, she had part of her ear removed for the same reason.

She’s our little brave girl and once she joined the family, we realized how important it is to adopt older and senior animals. We know we missed out on her first six years, but we want to make the rest of her life as beautiful as possible.

When we were shopping at Petsmart a few weeks ago, we certainly weren’t expecting to end up adopting another cat, but fate has a way of guiding you. We saw Leilani sitting like a little princess, purring and just relaxed as could be. We couldn’t get over how much she looked like our younger cat, Shane. She gave us ‘blinkies’ and we fell in love.

As we talked with Annie Queen and learned more about Leilani’s history, Lana and I just looked at each other and knew we wanted to welcome her to our home. We are blessed to have a home and the means to give her a great life and that’s exactly what we plan to do.

She’s already walking around like she owns the place, chasing us from room to room. She loves mealtime and eats like a champ for someone with only four teeth. As everyone gets to know each other, we have confidence that we will be one big, fur covered, happy family.

Note from Elisa: Leilani is a survivor of Julianne Westberry. She went from almost four years in foster care to her forever home with Dana and Lana on May 3, 2018. You can read more on Leilani, as well as the other Anderson Feline Survivors on their Facebook page.

Thanks go out to Foster Paws Rescue who originally saved Leilani and provided for her medical and emotional needs and to Annie Queen who gave Leilani a home until the perfect forever home could be found.

Many, many articles on Westberry were posted on PoC and can be found by clicking here.