Nova is a kind hearted and sweet young lady who sadly due to the neglect of someone not desexing her, she found herself raising multiple litters while still a baby herself. We were informed by a member of the community that they had a friendly heavily pregnant cat with two six month old kitten still at foot that was coming to their house during the day in desperate search of food.

We quickly arranged a foster carer who straight away started preparing their spare bedrooms with everything needed for the new arrivals.

A team of volunteers headed out to the property to help safely catch mumma (Nova) and her six month old kittens which were from her previous litter. Unfortunately when they arrived it was found that Nova had already gone into labour. Nova and & Co were safely loaded into carriers and the surrounding properties were all checked to make sure that Nova hadn’t already given birth to any kittens.

Our amazing carer then had the very stressful and long drive home with Nova giving birth to two kittens on the way!! Talk about making an entrance into rescue!!

Not long after arriving home, our volunteer received a call to say that kitten cries had been heard from a neighbouring garden and to our horror two new born kittens were found well hidden in thick bushes. We couldn’t believe that they had somehow been missed in the thorough search.

The kittens were collected by one of our lovely friends and straight away put in warm blankets with a snuggle safe heat pad to keep their bodies warm during transport to Nova.

Nova was a kind and patient mum and raised her kittens beautifully but we couldn’t wait for her to finally live her life for herself and not as the milk bar, litter after litter. She deserved so much better than that.

Sadly when Nova went in for her desexing she tested positive for FIV and it was also found that she required a dental scale and polish and a few teeth extractions, we thought that would be all that was required and that after she recovered she would finally be able to start searching for a special forever home of her own where she could live the rest of her life as a spoilt and loved house kitty.

Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out like that yet for our beautiful patient lady. Nova recently developed chronic inflammation of the gum tissue (gingiva) and it was evident to her foster carer that she was in a lot of discomfort when she stopped wanting to play or interact with them as much and then she went off her food.

We sent her to our vet straight away, and since then Nova has had almost weekly expensive vet visits trying to find a treatment plan that would help improve her condition. Unfortunately despite Nova having very healthy teeth, her immune system has been attacking itself and her painful gums had not responded to the less invasive treatments.

At yet another visit, our vet sadly reported that despite having been on aggressive treatment her gums were worsening. It was suggested that we take Nova to see a feline specialists at Melbourne Cat Vet.

Most cats with stomatitis responded well to a full or partial mouth extraction but Nova’s case was not as simple as most due to how inflamed her gums were, the fact that her having FIV would mean that she might not heal as easily, and also in regard to how difficult it was going to be to remove her teeth given how healthy and strong they are.

Nova’s big day arrived and she ended up requiring dental x-rays, biopsies and 20 of her teeth to be removed! We are hoping that once she has fully recovered from the dental extractions that her inflammation will finally be resolved so that Nova can be pain free and ready to start the search for her forever home.

Nova’s testing and procedure just at the specialist alone has cost BFFR well over $2,000 but Nova deserves the opportunity to live a happy and pain free life and the BFFR team are so grateful that she came into our lives so that she could receive the necessary veterinary care she needed.

We couldn’t imagine the suffering she would have endured if she were left out on the streets without anyone to care for her.