This super nice kitty was dropped at the county shelter in the cages outside one night in the middle of June. His note said "my name is Kitty" and something about his owners could not keep him anymore.

He had been shaved in a lion cut but it is growing out. He is extremely dirty around his face and paws and tail, which means he was probably living outside (bad for Persians to live outside). 

The vet at the county shelter guessed his age to be 5 years. 

We show his "before" and "after" face pictures. It took mere minutes to wipe his eyes and a few more to bathe his feet and tail, and shave his matted areas (under the chin and on his back). A couple of the mats we snipped off with scissors. Note we shaved his chin after the pictures so he looks a bit different now.

Orson is primarily white with a grey spot above his shoulders. His fur is very stained so it will take months to shed the awful fur and replace it with new. We plan to have him shaved unless he is adopted before we can do this. This way all the dirty fur will be gone and he can grow in beautiful fur. We will also improve his diet, to see if his fur will be less rough.

It took us forever to figure out a name for this sweet boy. Frankly he was like a diamond in the rough when we got him (as you will see in the picture) but now looks 500% better, so we were looking for a name describing a huge change from bad to good. Then we thought he looks like Oscar the Grouch (kind of) with his really round furry face. But we didn't want to put a grouchy name on such a sweet cat. So since Orson sounds cute, we thought that would fit (better than "kitty" anyway!).

When we pulled him from the county, he was brought into our foster home in a carrier. Our nosy dog got right up to the cage and Orson did not react, just peeped out at the dog, not a hiss or a flare up, so we think he has been around dogs. Plus Orson is watching the kittens in the next cage play and jump and he is not hissing, so we are sure he has been around cats too! We have him caged until he adjusts to the area, and while we work on his ears - yes he has earmites. He got his first treatment for those today also.

Orson will need a dental because we looked in his mouth & saw tartar, plus one tooth that looks like it needs extraction (a molar that is grey) and also one of his fangs has grown in sideways and is laying across the roof of his mouth (it is not inflamed or infected though). Note Persians have tiny mouths and even tinier teeth, so the fang is not even half the size of a tabby adult cat's.

We think Orson will fit in anywhere, but the adopters need to know Persians are a very time consuming breed, they require daily brushing becuase they are a manmade breed - they did not "evolve" with all this fur and smushed nose.

Speaking of noses, Orson's is very extreme. His face is FLAT. So he does breathe louder than normal but it is not bad.

UPDATE: Orson went to our vet on June 28. Our vet agrees he is middle-aged, meaning 5-6, possibly 7 years old. We ran a fecal (negative) and she examined him. Since we have had him, he is eating like mad, as if he were starved. We think he has put on at least 1/2 pound. We should have weighed him a week ago!  Anyway the vet did agree he needs a dental. Orson is not needing an "emergency" dental (there is no pain associated with his mouth), however it is needed and some of the tartar buildup on his upper molars at the very back (2 teeth of concern) could be hiding some other problems, but we won't know till the tartar is removed during the dental. The vet didn't see any greyish teeth (I must have been thinking of another cat, hmm). The dental estimate to remove the tartar and polish his teeth is about $200. If any teeth have to be removed (we estimated 2 extractions as worst case - those same 2 upper rear molars, one on each side) bumps the estimate to $520.  Eeek.  We have not committed to do the dental (and these are our special discounted rates, too). 

2nd UPDATE!!!  Over the time we have fostered Orson, I have been shaving him to get his matted and tangly fur off. We are feeding him Nutro to get his fur to regenerate which it is doing very nicely. After his shave we could see his torso very clearly and we noticed how labored his breathing is (due to his small and smushed Persian nose). So we went to Dr. Jen at Palm Bay Animal Clinic who is just WONDERFUL at working with rescues on limited budgets for rescue kitties who are in distress like Orson's breathing. She agreed to do the "Stenotic Nares Repair" PLUS his dental for an EXTREMELY reduced rate.  Wow. And Double Triple Wow......

And, thanks to a fabu-deluxe volunteer named Nancy, Orson had transport to and from the vet which is almost 70 miles round trip, from the foster home in Cocoa to the vet. 

Orson's surgery was a success for his nose and his nice shiny teeth (he did not need extractions after all)... and he has an excellent home waiting where he will have kitty buddies and lots of love. Orson is very enthused now that he gets oxygen easily... and plays alot more, eats alot more, and seems to have zero pain after surgery. He ate so much the first night his little tummy felt like a round orange when we picked him up!!!  We are sure his breathing inhibited his eating and it got worse over the years (we researched it online, it says it will get worse...and since he was 6 or 7 years, and straining to breathe, we had to do something....).

So, kudos and heartfelt thanks go out to Dr. Jen at Palm Bay Animal Clinic, she's our hero!!! Plus her friendly and bubbly staff - one of whom answers the phone with "It's a wonderful day at Palm Bay Animal Clinic" -- how many vet offices say THAT when they answer the phone????

Contact Mona at meowmail1@gmail.com