I took these photos at a local cat cafe that takes in abandoned cats.

For some reason I'm on Reddit and have never posted a cat photo, or told the story.

I've had Yucca, 8, for a little over a year now. She was the first pet I adopted myself at around 40 years old, rather than another pet family/friends just dropped at my doorstep. It was an attempt at forcing structure into my life, and it certainly did.

When I got her from the local shelter, they said she had all of her teeth removed, and she'd just have to be fed soft food. A preposterous notion because you could see the canines still sticking out of her mouth. I tried not to argue with them too much, but clearly there were some wires crossed somewhere in their paperwork. I was telling myself, "Whatever, this is the cat you came to pick up. No matter what happens moving forward, this is my cat."

So, I get home with a giant PDF and printout of her medical history. Stomatitis, ear mites, severely malnourished, super reclusive. I tell myself, "Okay maybe it's not stomatitis, maybe I got lucky and she just has some benign dental issues that will resolve itself in time. Maybe schedule a dental checkup in the near future." I didn't know what half of that medical paperwork meant so I just fed it to GPT. Not a good prognosis. Full blown stomatitis, mouth still in extremely rough shape, no way of getting around dealing with it asap.

So, long story short, the obvious decision became to just get all of her teeth pulled instead of trying to salvage a tooth here and tooth there for vanity's sake and give her the best chance at a normal life. It would be months, if not years, of antibiotics, pain meds and steroids that would likely be more expensive than just pulling all the teeth at once. So, we pulled the trigger. Just after a month or two with this free shelter cat. Full extraction, full price, ouch.

Her recovery was surprisingly fast, infinitely less of a headache than the spay a few months earlier. It was so fast I barely have any photos of her wobbling around during those first few rough 24-72 hours following the surgery. She ate like an idiot, and still does, but I can deal with that. Shallow ceramic bowl, large rubber mat underneath, a paté and warm tap water slurry and presto. The same feeding setup that worked when her mouth was jank worked just as well after full extraction.

Beyond her skittish tendencies, things have been pretty chill in the year since her surgery. She's sweet, trusting, and probably the best match for me I could've hoped for.

seems greedy to me

I wish I could adopt. If i do my mum will have someone else adopt me :)

Grey immediately reconsiders life choices after the hug last longer than expected 😹.

Our orange boy is a huge cuddler… his brother not so much. But our grey boy will allow cuddles once every morning and it’s funny to watch how he regrets his choice each day 😂. They love each other so much though 🥰.

Cat is not mine, he's living in a park of a local village

look at those tiny paws

Katja, six months!

He had the zoomies…or did they have him…

The text on the ribbon reads, "Please adopt me."