Ponce's story at RRAR is similar to Tobie's, and it begins before she was even born. A cat named Tracie came to the shelter as a stray in the Summer of 2016. She arrived as the third pregnant mother we received in a month, and one of the five we received all Summer! Tracie was a bit different than the others, as she was positive for feline herpes. This disease doesn't effect cats in the way it does humans, it is more of a bad cold. Constant sneezing, watery eyes, etc. and is VERY contagious! It is called "Herpes" because just like in humans it may flare up and down, but it never truly goes away.

   Ponce was born on July 12th, 2016. Tracie, for whatever reason, was very quickly not able to produce enough milk for her babies. An employee who had just arrived at the shelter roughly the same time as Tracie, Amanda, offered to take them home and feed them kitten formula every day. Over the next few weeks, all of Ponce's brothers and sisters wouldn't make it, as they all had the herpes virus like their mother, and were not strong enough to fight it off. Although, Ponce WAS strong enough! Amanda kept Ponce with her for almost 2 months. She actually gave her the name "Ponce de Leon" because she said she was a little explorer, always wandering around her house trying to find new places she had never been before.

   Ponce was born both with a lazy eye, and the virus passed down from her mother, but Amanda didn't care! She fell in love with Ponce, and decided to adopt the sole survivor of the litter she had been taking care of. Neither one of them could be happier than they are with each other! And Tracie even found a home that didn't care about her virus either!