A cat is pictured in this file photo.If you have visited Joy’s Flowers, you probably know Juliette the Cat.
Frequently found nestled amongst the floral arrangements or spotted blending in with a snowy white winter window display, the blue-eyed, long-haired girl has the haughty air of a longtime shop cat. It is difficult to imagine that just a few months ago, she was brought to The Cat Clinic near death and in need of emergency surgery.
The former McCallie Avenue street cat-turned adopted shop cat developed pyometra, a fatal uterine infection that can set in suddenly in female cats. Unprepared to cover the enormous financial costs for the necessary treatment, Joy’s Flower’s owner David Park and his staff were at a loss for what to do.
“It was an emergency situation, because with this condition they can become septic [a medical condition resulting from infection that can cause the failure of multiple organs] really quickly,” explains Cat Clinic veterinarian and owner Dr. Marcia Toumayan.
With the help of Toumayan’s passion project The Alice Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to helping cats in need, along with a partnership with Wally’s Friends, which performed the surgery and provided care at-cost, the Cat Clinic was able to treat Juliette successfully.