TOMMY*

HIS STORY AS TOLD BY MUM MICHELE

​Sir Thomas Trueheart was living the life of an outside, unwanted cat in the high desert of California. Some kind people were feeding him, but he had no home to call his own. Tommy was a friendly boy and that friendliness almost cost him his life. A cruel human or humans deliberately poured a caustic substance on Tommy’s face, literally burning half of it almost off, including his right eye.

​He wandered for days in agony and found his way back to the people’s house who were feeding him. They immediately took him to a vet who had NO idea what they were doing and wanted to send Tommy home with just some antibiotics. When they tested him and found out he was FIV+, they wanted to kill him.

The people who rescued Tommy reached out to Milo's Sanctuary on social media and Milo's immediately jumped into action, getting in contact with the woman who had rescued him and had her rush him to our vets.

​Thomas was at the vet for over a month on antibiotics, pain medications, and sugar bandages to help the wound heal and granulate. Then he went to a surgical specialist who did an amazing job with a skin graft. Through it all, Tommy was so brave and purred and kissed the people taking care of him.

​After his skin graft, there was more hospital time. FINALLY, Tommy was able to go to the President of Milo's Sanctuary's home where he healed and blossomed into an inspiration to anyone who met him. He also fell in love with one of our special needs girl cats DAISY - they were never separated and ate, slept and cuddled together in a soft bed in the sunshine. When he passed you could see in her eyes the sadness, loss and confusion. Michele (the President of Milo's) also felt the same emotions as Daisy so together they mourned the passing of this great spirit.

​There were two photos that went viral that was the photo of Tommy after his surgery with a teddy rabbit that his rescuer brought him and one of him with a blue background taken by the amazing photographer Casey Chrisopher. Through social media we created an Instagram account for him and entered him into Cat Con's "Biggest New Comer" contest. He took the world by storm and won paws down.

​The biggest question was "what do we do with his account now?" he looked us straight in the eyes and we knew his account needed to be something that inspired, taught love, compassion, kindness, forgiveness and empathy. After his passing we kept the account active (and still do) to help bring some light into this sometimes dark world.

​He became ill in the fall of 2019 due to complications of FIV and Milo's veterinarians and staff did all they could to heal him, but he was tired and he changed the world. One of the hardest things I've ever done is hold him in my arms and kiss his beautiful face as he left his broken body to fly among the heavens.

​One cat, rescued, injured and vilified changed the world for the better - he is an inspiration to me and everyone who wants a hero to look up to. I was honored to be his rescuer and his mom for 3 short years, but they were years of love and adventure. I will miss him forever and I was blessed to have him in my life.