Rocky Balboa - aka Rocky, Rocket, Rocket Man, Mr. Balboa, or Miracle Kitten

Rocky was found as a 3 day old kitten, abandoned by his mother on hot asphalt on a sweltering summer day. He was hypothermic, hypoglycemic, very dehydrated, taking slow deep gasps for air, and on the verge of death. Things were looking very grim, but after several hours he was finally stabilized and able to swallow his first few drops of milk. Then it was time to turn our attention to his burns. Rocky suffered severe burns to all 4 of his paws, as well some damage to his tail tip, umbilicus, and even his chin. There was a point were we thought he was going to loose all four paws, but with veterinarian experts and a very generous sponsor for his medical care, Rocky was given a fighting chance.

For months, he had to sit patiently through 2-3 bandage changes a day. We loved playing around with bandage color, always telling him how cute his 'boxing gloves' were. Rocky had to learn how to walk with these wraps on all four of his paws, and it didn't slow him down one bit! Eventually, the bandages were removed one by one, and he was free to prance around totally unrestricted. Rocky did have a few challenges; he is missing two toes that were too damaged to save, he had to be taught how to jump, and he sports a beautiful white 'bracelet' where his skin grew back depigmented and the fur came back in white.

Today, Rocky is full of life. He enjoys zooming around at full speed, engaging in full on conversations with his humans, and coming up with the most adorable sleeping positions. When it came to adoption day for this boy, we knew he was not going anywhere. He was adopted by his foster family and is still running around, causing mischief, and being extra adorable to this day.