Hello Love, Nala Community,
Now that we have introduced you to the inspiration behind our cat food brand Love, Nala, Nala Cat, we want to introduce you to Coffee aka @white_coffee_cat on Instagram.
Coffee the cat is known for his handsome look with bright blue eyes, luscious white fur, and his suave but a bit shy personality. Pookie and her sister, Ping, adopted Coffee when he was just 5 months old from a friend who could no longer care for him. When Coffee joined the family, Pookie and Ping started an Instagram account for him as well.
It was truly meant to be that Pookie and Ping adopted him and started an Instagram account because both of these things helped save his life when Coffee was diagnosed with cancer. While brushing him one afternoon, Shannon found two symmetrical lumps on Coffee’s body. We took him to the vet the very next morning, where x-rays showed evidence of two enlarged kidneys. Further testing and ultrasound indicated that Coffee was positive for kidney lymphoma.
The beginning of this journey was extremely heartbreaking for us including Nala. She could sense that something was wrong with her brother. Coffee became very sick just one day after the diagnosis. He didn't show too many signs prior as we received a diagnosis quickly. We took him to see an oncologist immediately and started his first round of chemotherapy that same day.
His first two chemotherapy sessions made him nauseous and it was very hard to see him so sick when just a few days ago, he was a healthy cat. We considered the quality of life over the number of years. That’s when Shannon asked Coffee if he would like to cross the rainbow bridge or if he wanted to stay with us. Coffee let us know that he wanted to stay and fight this battle so we made the decision to continue with the chemo and do whatever we could to make him as comfortable as possible. We gave him fluids and anti-nausea medications regularly. Then he lost his appetite so we gave him a medication to increase his appetite. Coffee’s final rounds of chemotherapy were given to him once a month. And then the moment of truth… after completing the chemotherapy program, his oncologists informed us that he was cancer-free!
Through this journey, we realized three important things: love, food, and community. The love and trust we had with him are what we truly believe helped him push through his chemo. Nutritious cat food is vital for both preventative health measures as well as during sick times. Coffee’s cancer experience is the reason why we’re so passionate about creating a healthy cat food and wanted to understand the value and purpose of each ingredient in our dry and wet food. And lastly, it was our online community that helped save him. The funds that were contributed to cover his medical expenses truly touched our hearts and Coffee is our daily reminder to be kind and to give back to our community.
Love,
Coffee and the Nala Cat Family
