“A lot of people who saw her at the shelter said she was ugly” 😢
Francisca Franken was searching her local animal shelter’s website late one night when she came upon an odd cat. Something about the cat’s flat face, rough demeanor, and sad eyes made her pause in her browsing.
Franken told The Dodo, “I saw her photo and fell in love the second I saw her.” “I chuckled at first since the photographs were so amusing and I’d never seen a cat like this before.”
She quickly wrote to the shelter to ask whether the cat was still available, and she couldn’t sleep that night waiting for a response. The shelter, on the other hand, couldn’t believe she really wanted Bean when she called again.
“A pleasant person from the rescue called and asked if Bean was indeed the cat I wanted to apply for because, apparently, no one had been interested in her previously,” Franken said. “The woman on the other end of the line was afraid I had clicked the incorrect button or something.”
Bean was a stray in a trailer park before arriving to the shelter. She had never felt love and was suffering from an eye infection and other problems. Franken, on the other hand, was adamant about changing that.
“One woman escorted me to her room, and what I saw was far more lovely than I could have imagined,” Franken said. “Bean was (and still is) so little and insignificant. She has stubby legs and a small tail, as well as the most flattened face I’ve ever seen. Because I was so overwhelmed, I started weeping as soon as I came into her room. She wasn’t at all like I had anticipated — yet she was a million times better.”
“A lot of people felt she was ugly at the shelter,” she said, “but I believe she’s the most wonderful girl ever.”
Bean was carried home by Franken right away, and the cat made sure her new mother knew how thankful she was.
“At first, she was considerably more affectionate and attached to me wherever I went,” says the author “According to Franken. “She began to show me her snarky side once she realized she didn’t need to ‘act’ like that and that I would never let her go again, even if she stopped being cuddly and sweet. But I liked it because she was able to show her real colors.”
Bean now needs to share a bed with Franken every night and must constantly be in the same room as her. Bean’s favorite thing in the world, aside from her mother, is olives. She gets a little wild if she smells olives or olive brine.
“The first time she stole an olive, it was when I had a late-night snack and she rushed up to me and knocked the olive right out of my palm, picked it up, and raced away to eat it under the sofa,” Franken said.
Isoprenoids, which are found in green olives and pimentos, are comparable to catnip in composition. Bean is so hooked with the salty snacks that whenever she sees her mother take the olives out of the fridge, she screams at her.
Thankfully, cats can eat olives in moderation, so Franken treats her to a couple as a reward.
Given everything Bean has done for her, Franken believes that satisfying Bean’s olive fixation is the least she can do for the wonderful kitty.
“Bean isn’t a true emotional support animal, but she’s already helped me get through some difficult moments, and I can’t express how much I adore her,” Franken said. “She means everything to me, and she deserves every bit of affection after going through so much before coming to me.”