Licorice's Story

Poor little Licorice has had more than her share of trying times.

In 2007, a gentle and sweet black kitty named Licorice gave birth to six tiny kittens while at San Jose Animal Care & Services. The stress from being there proved to be too much for Licorice, and she wasn’t feeding her kittens. The shelter contacted rescuers, Janice and Dan, and they pulled Licorice and her babies from the shelter, brought them home and routed her babies to two foster homes specializing in bottle feeding. Sadly none of the babies survived past three weeks and all were buried together.

Licorice went on to be adopted later that summer.

Two years later, mid-May…

Janice and Dan, now volunteering with 13th St. Cat Rescue, received a call that Licorice was surrendered to San Jose Animal Care & Services as a “stray”! Poor Licorice was back in the shelter, stressed and very scared.

Numerous attempts to contact her adopters failed; they did not want Licorice, she had been abandoned by the family that was supposed to love her and care for her.

Janice and Dan took her back into their home and after a week of acclimating and ensuring she was ok, she went to her original foster home where she could relax and be comfortable until she would find her new forever family.

About mid-July, her foster mom noticed a fairly large mass on Licorice’s rear left leg. Licorice was taken in for a biopsy and it turned out to be fibrosarcoma-cancer.

With fibrosarcomas there are 3 choices: 1) do nothing - very likely cat will die shortly as fibrosarcoma spreads rapidly 2) do radiation, but it’s only 80% effective and you’ll have wasted valuable time if it doesn't work or 3) remove the leg which, if you do it soon enough, is 100% effective.

Faced with these options, the decision was made to have Licorice’s leg removed on 8/2/09. She went through surgery just fine and a biopsy on the removed limb showed no cancer in the margins of the limb, so her prognosis is excellent.

September 2009 Update:

Licorice’s foster home says she is managing well with her missing limb and is in good spirits. She has had quite a sad little life, and is incredibly sweet; she's lucky rescue was there for her, not only once, but twice. As Janice says “Licorice is sure working through those 9 lives!”

Thanks to 13th St. Cat Rescue and the continued efforts of volunteers like Janice and Dan, Licorice will be cared for in our foster program until a permanent home is found.

Licorice's Bio: http://www.13thstcats.org/animals/detail?AnimalID=1806219

Licorice is available for adoption; if you would like to meet her please contact us at info@13thstcats.org.