We adopted Mishmish (formerly Apple Bloom) on February 19th, 2023 from HSHV, hoping to find a friend for our resident cat, Yeimy! Very quickly, we realized that Mishmish had anxiety-induced aggression, severe territorial issues and lacked proper socialization. While this was extremely stressful, we worked with the vets at HSHV over the last 6 months to try and make this work for her, our resident cat and our family! This meant we tried combinations of anxiety meds, arthritis shots, (re)started cat introductions multiple times and anything you can imagine.

I’m happy to share that 6 months after adopting her and lots of trial and error, Mishmish went from being a cat who was scared, anxious and walking around with a limp (due to her arthritis) to a cat who is now an adorable cuddle bug who loves to play and has learned she can finally relax—no harm will get to her. There were so many times I did not think we’d make it to this point and that we would have to surrender her, but I’m grateful that we were able to find Mishmish her happy ending. She’s a lovely addition to our home & family—I mean, look at her eyes! They make us melt.

To anyone who feels like they’ve been trying on cat introductions without success, hang in there! The amount of times I’ve cried the last 6 months and what sometimes felt like a hopeless situation has finally worked out. However, I also want to reiterate what so many at HSHV have told me which is that it is so so so alright if you have to ultimately make the call that it’s not working out. Everyone ultimately wants what is best for the cat and the home in the end, and we were just lucky that we were able to have the time and resources to work towards making this adoption successful <3

Apple-Bloom now Mishmish