One cat’s incredible reunion with its owner after the LA wildfires

It seems the tall story that every one cats have 9 lives could also be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.

The beloved feline was feared lifeless for 2 months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her household’s residence in ashes. However her proprietor, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope.

Over the weekend, Kiefer acquired a name from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. Her daughter Carolyn Kiefer shared their reunion Saturday in a TikTok video that rapidly garnered greater than 1 million likes. It exhibits tears pouring from Katherine Kiefer’s eyes as Aggie curled up in her arms.

“I used to be very a lot frightened that I used to be going to get up and (uncover) it had been a dream,” she mentioned.

Kiefer was at a medical appointment the day hearth engulfed her neighborhood and her kids could not discover Aggie — who was susceptible to hiding — once they tried to rescue her.

“The one factor my mother requested was: ‘Did you get Aggie?” Carolyn remembers.

Many pet house owners struggled to achieve their domesticated animals in the course of the frantic rush to evacuate from the Palisades wildfire in January.

Aggie, who’s about 5 years outdated, was gifted to Katherine Kiefer by a good friend in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media customers have been so touched by the pair’s reunion video that many have been asking for day by day updates. The household’s $30,000 GoFundMe marketing campaign for Aggie’s vet payments had topped $21,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

The cat has undergone a number of blood transfusions and is now seeing a specialist.

“She was mainly pores and skin and bone, and in a state of absolute hunger,” Carolyn mentioned.

The household will formally be reunited with Aggie when she is launched from the hospital Thursday. Kiefer mentioned she’s anxiously ready, and she or he has a message for different pet house owners: “Don’t underestimate cats,” she mentioned.