Faxlandez Family Blog

On March 7, 2007, a little black ball of fur arrived at Adopt-A-Pet. She was sneezy with gunky eyes and nose. She quickly settled into Quarantine, so as not to spread germs to the healthy pets living at “AAP”. Upon settling in, she received the name Snuffy. Snuffy was found out in the country roaming outdoors where she wasn’t safe or cared for.

It was estimated that Snuffy was about 6 months old when she arrived at AAP – with a date of birth of 9/06. Her coat was short as a Persian cat’s hair doesn’t reach full length for at least a full year. After a few days in Quarantine, it was determined that Snuffy needed a foster home where she could recover from her Upper Respiratory Infection. This is when she entered my life. – almost 10 years ago.

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I’ll be the first to admit that Snuffy wasn’t classically beautiful at this point in her life. Persians go through a sort of awkward teenager phase where they are half “ewww what’s that?” and half “only a mother could love that”. Nevertheless, I fell in love with her antics. She quickly decided that my loft bedroom was her paradise and she spent most of her days looking out the 2nd floor window, staring into the mirror headboard, and sitting on my computer desk.

A few weeks went by as I continued to treat her for the URI. After about a month or two, I inquired with the vet whether she should still be on medications and at that time it was determined that’s just the way she is – a sniffly and sneezy kind of cat – due to the size of her tiny nose. A few veterinarians over the years have remarked that her nose/face make her “show quality”, as disgusting as that may be.

After learning that she would be this way forever, I became even more attached. Would anyone want to adopt a cat that would require constant grooming as well as regular visits to the vet to treat her congestion? I couldn’t bear to think of someone adopting her, so just before her 1st birthday, on August 14, 2007 Snuffy became a Faxlanger.

Edit: I forgot to mention at first that upon Snuffy’s spay surgery, Dr. Cochran of Victoria identified a BB in her neck that had been there since her time in the “wild”. It was removed and she hasn’t had any complications from being shot, thankfully. Also of note: due to the shape of her mouth, she’s missing teeth too! She is a little bit homely but we love her the way she is.

And the rest, folks, is history.

She has since grown into a whopping 8 lb cat with gorgeous fur which is mercilessly shaved off every 6 months by a professional groomer (I tried to do it myself once. Never. Again.). She spends her days camped out on my heating blanket or on her cat tree that overlooks the back yard.

In the past she’s enjoyed being carried around in a pink purse made to hold tiny chihuahuas, but since moving to “the big city” 6 years back, we don’t do that anymore for safety reasons. She still enjoys riding in cars whether in a crate or not, and she looooooooooves Starbucks whipped cream even though they call them Puppachinos. Since her face is so flat, I have to scoop out some of the whipped cream and let her lick it off my fingers… it makes for a hilarious mess.

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One of the few things Snuffy does that is common to many cats is she is drawn to things to sit in/on. No empty box, shopping bag, unattended laundry basket, moving box, etc. is safe from this girl. If she fits, she sits and naps. Also, beware if she gets access to a sink or tub she mayyyyyyy do her business in there (I’m providing no pictures for this, you’re welcome).

Here are a few highlights of Snuffy’s life so far.

Snuffy has fostered a looooooot of kittens, a few cats, and quite a few dogs/puppies too! She especially loves the tiny kittens as she can often clean them off after they eat their mix of canned kitten food and formula! Tasty 🙂 She’s never met another animal she didn’t like. Some she is a little afraid of (like Theodore because he’s big and clumsy!) but usually she is quick to make friends with anyone. Sometimes other cats/kittens are afraid of her due to the noise her nose makes, though.

One time, the groomer did not do their best work… ’nuff said.

Back in 2009, I talked to my dad about building a cat tree for Snuffy. We often would build things with wood in the workshop. A few days later, a brand new cat tree arrived at the front door. Dad said that he was searching online and found that a solid, nice cat tree was just a click away so he ordered one for Snuffy and one for my sister’s cat at the time, Kiki. My dad always said he hated cats, yeah, sure! She still has this cat tree to this day, she uses it all the time.

She really enjoys a good Christmas Tree, namely napping under one.

She got her very own Lil Bub! Sometimes she grooms Lil Bub, other times she cuddles her.

And last, but not least, she has most recently learned that she gets lots of attention by sitting on the toilet lid in the bathroom. Snuffy is obviously more important than brushing my teeth or washing my face.

You can follow Snuffy on Instagram @princesssnuffy. I regularly post pictures and videos of her and her shenanigans. Enjoy! 🙂