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My husband and I lost our lovely, practically blind Somali named Sierra (she had cataracts) to liver failure one October. She was 16, but we'd only had her for about five years. It broke my heart because she was such a wonderful friend.

Three months later, though, we missed having a cat around and decided to go to the local cat shelter to give a homeless cat a loving home. We saw a number of sweet and loving cats, and when we couldn't decide, the lady there told us she had more in another room. There we saw a small blue and white female, about a year old. She looked sad and like she had given up. She was almost hiding in her little cave.

The lady told us she believed that she was abused by her former owner, who had hit her. The woman had threatened the shelter by saying either the shelter took her or she'd end up on the streets. When we tried to pet her, she bit us both, but not hard. We felt she needed our love the most and decided to take her home.

At first, she was afraid every time we tried to pet her and would shy away. She also hid under our bed a lot the first few weeks. We named her Chani after a character from the "Dune" books because of her small size and that we knew she'd show strength by eventually getting over her sad past.

Patience and lots of love truly helped, and now she's a very happy, loving cat who's getting braver and more confident every day. She shows us every day how much she loves us, and we feel truly blessed to have her in our lives. She does have a minor heart issue, but we're hoping to enjoy many years of love with her.

We will love her the rest of her life and hope we're giving her as much as she is giving us.

Story submitted by Katrine Onesima Hansen from Copenhagen, Denmark.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!