Prepping for pet parenthood?
There's a lot to learn when you have a new pet. Our sister brand, The Wildest, is here to support you—with new pet checklists, virtual training, and expert guides. Sign up for free.
Close button icon
Adopt

My name is Little Lion Leo!

Posted over 8 years ago | Updated over 8 years ago

My basic info

Breed
Scottish Fold
Color
Tan or Fawn Tabby
Age
Adult
Sex
Male
Pet ID
Hair Length
short

My details

Checkmark in teal circle Shots current
Checkmark in teal circle Spayed / Neutered

My story

Here's what the humans have to say about me:

Little Lion Leo: 3-5 yr old male champagne tabby Scottish Fold

This is a sweet boy. He was owner surrendered to us from a So Cal. woman in failing health. It sounded as though he had not received the best of care for quite a while. He was living entirely outside due to the owner’s unfriendly dog and that had been going on “at least a couple years.” We are not really sure of his age. We were told they got him as kitten about “three years ago.” I think we could safely say he is fairly young. He is a healthy, playful guy.

Scottish Fold ears come with varying degrees of foldedness. Leo has the most folded variety, delightfully called “Airplane Fold," which means ears that are very flat to the head. He is so cute. A visitor admired him saying, “Oh He is just like a Little Lion!” and the name stuck. He arrived, not surprisingly, very dirty and a bath revealed the lovely, light champagne color of his soft fur. He is fairly long legged for his size and has comparatively big paws.

Leo arrived quite thin at 7 pounds. We were told he had been eating only wet food. A vet exam confirmed our suspicions that he had stomatitis, a fairly common auto immune gum disease which creates a painful redness on his gums. The normal treatment for this condition is to have all the teeth except perhaps the canines removed. When the medication the vet prescribed did not have enough of an effect on him, we went ahead and had the dental work done. (See our plea for donations for him on our Home Page.) He seemed more comfortable immediately. He has put on some weight, is now 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and is he looking, and seems to be feeling, very good. In the first photo, you can see the shaved spot on his front leg where the IV catheter was placed. He still has his canines and all his front incisor teeth.

I have known 6 or 7 cats now that that had no teeth at all and I can, with experience, say that they all ate fine without them. The tongues do all the work to bring in and help swallow food and seldom do most cats even crunch their dry kibble in their teeth. One more thing I want to say about stomatitis. Teeth removal is the vet’s cure of choice and works perfectly in the vast majority of cats but that is not to say 100%. It sometimes does not work or sometimes the condition returns as a problem in which case further dental work, like removing the canines, would need to be done. Stomatitis varies -- sometimes, as for my cat, it goes away on its own.

This Little Lion is a gentle sort of kitty. He is a surprisingly small cat. Perhaps because he was a sweet little guy living outside with a number of feral cats, who, I was told, lived at this home, he is cautious with other cats, a little shy. He would be happy as an only cat or maybe with a kindly, non alpha companion kitty. I am sure he has met dogs but I have no idea how he feels about them. Probably very cautious, also. He is a lover not a fighter.

It seemed to us when we first got him that he was sooo happy to be inside. When he gets extra happy from being petted, he even drools a little. Now with his mouth no longer painful, he shows his happiness every minute. He rolls around on the floor and acts silly. He loves attention and will happily curl up besides you. He is not comfortable yet being held up on a shoulder or carried around. He wiggles. Perhaps having been attention starved for so long, he particularly loves attention from humans. A young boy visited him -- see photo below -- and Leo loved this child’s tender attention. Some kitties who have been stuck outside never want to go out again once they are comfy inside. He may be like that. He loves to lie in the sun and look out the window but I do not have the sense he is anxious to go out himself.

If you are looking for an adorable, grateful, happy little boy, here he is. I know everyone is going to want him. How could you not?

Someone will be so lucky.

He eats mostly wet food with a little dry and is litterbox perfect.

His foster mom is Harriet in Santa Cruz.

Find a pet to adopt

Other pets at this rescue
1 - 6 of 27 adoptable pets at this rescue