Operation Catnip helps both cats and the communities they live in by spaying, neutering, and vaccinating strays, as well as helping to train veterinarians. They even offer mentoring services to other cat advocacy organizations around the country.
So Samantha Smart knew just where to go when she and her neighbors were finally able to find and rescue the kitten they had heard mewing around their Florida neighborhood for days.
“It wasn’t just a meow, it was a sad little cry,” Smart told The Dodo. “He had the whole neighborhood working together to find and trap him.”
When at last they located the little Turkish Van kitten, they realized it was meant to be and they decided to adopt him. He would just need a trip to the vet for a check-up and to be neutered.
In order to make the cat they named Ponyo comfortable in his new indoor home, Smart’s daughter Violet suggested they get him his own special toy.
She picked out a green dragon that the kitten ended up loving and would drag around the house with him and even take naps with.
When it was time to head to the vet, the little girl insisted that the dragon go with Ponyo to keep him company and make him feel safe.
And it was a great idea because Ponyo wasn’t a huge fan of the vet. (To be fair, a big metal cage is practical but not very welcoming.)
The poor little guy hid behind his dragon and away from the latest set of new people to want to get near him.
Luckily, the vets gave him some time to get acclimated while they hatched a plan.
They were going to do what many doctors do for children – give their comfort toy the same treatment in order to show their patients that everything is safe.
Ponyo watched as they anesthetized the dragon first.
“We thought it would be really great to send the dragon on the same journey through the clinic as Ponyo, so we had fun giving the dragon the identical services,” Melissa Jenkins of Operation Catnip told The Dodo.
The vets were very diligent about sending both creatures through the same process as well as snapping some photos for posterity.
Ponyo is under anesthesia in the photos (cats don’t close their eyes while under) so he probably didn’t know that Dragon got the same shave as he did before his surgery.
Operation Catnip even assigned two vets, one for Ponyo and one for Dragon.
It’s important to neuter your dragons after all!
The two then went to recovery together, where they got to sleep off their sedative and get in some quality cuddles.
Everything went off without a hitch.
And when the kitten came to, his dragon was right there.
“As Ponyo was waking up from anesthesia, he meowed and was understandably confused, so we made sure his dragon was close by to offer him some comfort,” Jenkins said.
When Operation Catnip posted the adorable photos of Ponyo and his Dragon, they quickly went viral and have now been shared over 13,000 times!
Ponyo’s family realized that after seeing all this cuteness that people would want to follow the kitten’s progress, so they’ve set up a Facebook page for him and Dragon.
As you can see, he and his pal are happy at home with their new family.
As for his new sister, Ponyo is still trying to figure out just how much he can get away with.
Be sure to scroll down for a video of Ponyo and Aimee “getting to know each other.”
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