A senior cat used snuggles to rescue a young woman through dental school. "This cat saved my life through her head snuggles," imgur user kcody47 said.
Meet Sophie the cat!
It all began when the young woman started babysitting the friendly tabby cat during her second year of dental school.
"I never liked cats. I had never been around or grown up with cats," she said via imgur. But that quickly changed when she met Sophie. As she spent a lot of time studying at home, Sophie snuggled her way into her heart.
"I was a little skittish around her at first. Then she showed me the way of the head snuggle." Soon she learned that Sophie rubbed her head on everything, especially her.
"We bonded over our love of coziness," she said. "She'd keep me company on most of my all-nighters."
Due to heavy school work and her ADHD-PI (attention deficit hyperactivity predominately inattentive), she became physically and mentally exhausted.
"I began skipping classes (I used to be that person who got to class 15 minutes early to get the center seat in the first row). Then, it got to a point where I was too scared of starting the day. I began cancelling my patient's appointments because I was scared to leave my house. I didn't know how I had turned into this person," she said.
Sophie seemed to be able to sense her struggles and came to offer headbumps and snuggles.
"I had a lot of personal things going on affecting my performance in school... Especially for someone with ADHD-PI. It was difficult to keep up with all of the reading (I normally take double the amount of time) in so many classes, while managing to find time to practice drilling on fake teeth," she said.
Sophie was always there to offer some comfort when she needed it the most. It was then Sophie's original owner decided to let the young woman keep her as the tabby cat had claimed her to be her forever human.
During her 4th year in dental school, she spent her Christmas studying for several board exams and trying to complete her graduation requirements. The amount of stress was too overwhelming for her.
Then she felt a wave of love through purrs and snuggles from her best friend, Sophie, who wouldn't leave her side throughout the whole ordeal.
She started building cardboard castles and various cat houses for her beloved cat. It helped her get through the day seeing Sophie enjoy her creation.
The 13-year-old kitty got a fancy teepee! "Her teepee includes food, a water fountain, and cat grass. It also contains her dresses, which can be hung up on the side."
Getting out of the house was a bit of a challenge but Sophie insisted to help by going on walks with her human. "She meows relentlessly at the door at times to go outside to eat grass, stalk birds, and rub her face on branches," she said.
"Sophie gets me out of the house, even if it's only for 5-10 minutes a day... I try to take her places as often as I can. It's always an adventure for both of us... I'm kind of digging the outside now."
Over the past couple years, Sophie never left her side and snuggled her way to happiness every time she was down.
"I am beyond happy to say that I am now a 2017 DDS graduate," she added.
"Every head snuggle added a little happiness over the seemingly never-ending cloud of gloom over my head," she said.
"Thank you, my little mountain climber."
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