We had always fed the outside feral cats, in addition to our own litter of six cats. One freezing day outside my home office, there sat a grey and peach tortie.

I called my wife, and she came in with a blanket to try and catch her. She figured she would run, but she didn’t. She was frozen and near death. We brought her in and my wife named her “she ain’t staying”.

We gave her warm water in syringes and kept her in the warmest room in the house. She was too sick to eat. We took her to a local clinic, and they said she had a really bad upper respiratory infection and probably wouldn’t make it.

They suggested we put her down. We asked them to check her more thoroughly. My wife was in tears, and I was very upset, crying, too, as we had her for a few days and she had gotten a little better.

I gathered the courage to say no! I asked if we could make a donation for the medicine and try to save her ourselves. If she didn’t make it, we at least tried. We gave her the medicine and it took several weeks, but she started to show gradual improvement. Soon she was well enough to put up for adoption.

One shelter we called said they would keep her for one week, but if she didn’t get adopted they’d have to put her down. I again said no!

Finally, we got PetSmart to agree to put her up for adoption. I asked them when I should come get her at night and they said she stays in the cage with them. I said no way is she going in a cage after all she’s been through. Finally I convinced my wife that “she ain’t staying” was going to stay with us and our crew. Her new name is Maserati.

All our cats are named after expensive sports cars.

We call her Mazzie! She has been with us for eight years now and hopefully many more!

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story !