9 lives and this one she picked us

Nic's beloved Sparkles (who was so close to being 19 years old) had to go (unexpectedly) for her big sleep on Thurs 20th March and that weekend I (Shosh) was going to Twizel for Dragon boating at the South Island Champs. I did not want Nic to be left at home alone after such a loss. She wanted to ensure that she went to see our massage therapist before we left and went to see her on Fri 21st March. Perla (Pure Activation) said to her that "Sparkles will send you a stray (cat)", which we both just assumed was Perla being Perla (we love you Perla!).

We began our journey to Twizel that afternoon and when we arrived we stopped to charge our car at the Alpine Charging station (which is a pretty large, empty carpark). We brought some things from the 4 Square and hopped back in the car. As Nic was reversing she said "Omg there's a cat". I thought she was joking until I looked in the rear view mirror and saw this tiny black, injured cat. To cut a long story short...we captured her, took her to our airbnb and ended up bringing her back to Christchurch as there was no after hours vets in Twizel and nowhere close by that we could take her.

We decided early on that we did not want to surrender her to the SPCA but the vet bills, specialist appointments and other care is taking a financial toll on us. We have been lucky enough to receive $400 from Cats Unloved but all the other organisations we contacted were completely stretched at this time. We want to give Alpi the best chance possible.