Karen Mellette isn’t just a cat lover. She and husband Tommy welcome feral cats into their home that need a loving permanent family.
In fact, Tommy cares for a feral cat colony and feral cats near his work. He and a pal, along with Karen, help find them homes. Karen and Tommy adopted three of the feral cats themselves: Nellie, her mother Sassy and Polly Patches. They thought their family of felines was complete.
Then, Cornelius Cornbread entered their lives at the perfect time. Karen was mourning the loss of a different cat, Inky, whose death even impacted their other felines.
She also was recovering from tendon injuries and a resulting spread of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) to her feet and legs. She was at a low point, but Cornbread was her saving grace.
“He and Bea and our dog Duke all slept with me and snuggled up on me during the day while I was on doctor-ordered bed rest and recovering from Spinal Cord Stimulator surgery to help manage the RSD.”
Tommy actually found Cornbread and two littermates abandoned with no one to care for them. He and Karen decided to adopt one of them as they shockingly resembled their Inky.
“They were all named country dinner names: Cornbread, Beans and Coleslaw. We came for Beans because he looked so sweet and seemed to be just what we needed to heal our hearts, but when we got there, Beans hid under a piece of furniture.”
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But Cornbread wasn’t about to let Karen and Tammy pass them by. He began putting on quite a performance for the couple!
“Cornbread pranced right up to me, proceeded to show off and he let me hold him—that sealed the deal and he has been my little buddy ever since. He is very sassy and most definitely rules our house, but mostly, he’s just a clingy snuggler that sleeps curled up on me or next to me.”
New live action sport! @espn ⚾️ One paw 🐾 catch! 🤼♀️ Wait for my flying #panther takedown! Bam💥
Can you smell what the Cornbread is cooking? @catsofinstagram 😼😹 #CatsOfTwitter #QuarantineLife #catsofinstagram #funnycat #funnycatvideo #BlackCat #catvideos #cutecat #cat #cute pic.twitter.com/3UyWGRMowo
— Cornelius Cornbread ~ The Black Bombay 👀 ෴෴ Cat (@corneliuscorny) May 7, 2020
The 4-year-old black Bombay cat has since become an internet sensation thanks to his fashionable and debonaire eyebrows of all things!
The Nashville, Tenn., cat has had what look like white eyebrows since he was a tiny kitten because of a lack of fur growing in the area between his eyes and ears.
“His brows are most definitely on fleek.”
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Surprisingly, cats also can suffer from alopecia like humans, which basically is complete or partial hair loss. The most common cause of alopecia in animals happens to be skin allergies.
The sphinx cat has hereditary alopecia, meaning it will never grow hair or have hair anywhere on its body. Another type of alopecia leaves a patch of baldness by its ears.
What Cornbread appears to have is preauricular alopecia, which is the thinning of hair between the ears and the eyes. It’s actually fairly common among cats.
The skin surrounding the area of hair loss can appear normal or it can have redness, bumps, scabs and skin loss. Alopecia may appear in a symmetrical form, or it might affect random areas of the cat’s skin.
His intriguing look prompted Karen to share photos of him on social media, which eventually led to his own Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages where he has thousands of followers.
The stardom hasn’t completely gone to his head however, according to cat mom Karen. He’s still a sweet kitty although a bit demanding.
“A loving, highly intelligent, inquisitive, confident, sassy daredevil who expects to be the center of attention and is completely unrelenting if his demands are not immediately complied with. If we pay attention to another cat, he is on the scene immediately demanding attention.”
Cornbread also is a very perceptive pet. He can sense whenever something is bothering Karen and Tommy, even the dog Duke!
“He also picks up on emotions. If we are worried—he gets worried. If one of the other cats hacks up a furball, he will go check on them and sit with them. When Duke starts barking at a squirrel or delivery people, he runs to Duke and meows worriedly.”
Karen had to retire early from teaching due to her health issues and spends most of her time at home. Cornbread has become quite attached to her and gets anxious whenever she has to leave the house.
But he adores any guests who enter their home and makes it perfectly clear how much he likes others.
“Cornbread loves to jump up on our shoulders. When we have visitors, he will sit on them and purr. He will even attempt to leap on their shoulders sometimes. He is very vocal. He meows to himself a lot while wandering around. He meows to tell on himself when he’s up to no good and he does sassy meows when he gets in trouble.”
Whether he’s all dolled up in one of his fancypants bow ties looking quite classic and gentlemanly or sporting a Halloween costume looking like a vampire, Cornbread is the cutest thing! What do you think?
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