Read our story through how meowmie adopted me (Milo!)

Hello everyone. Welcome to my little bio and story as to how my mama adopted us a long time ago. 

My name is Milo and I am nine years old, going to be turning 10 on March 6, 2023. Before I was adopted I was living with a foster family that found my mama on the street roaming around and noticed she was pregnant. She gave birth to all of us on the stairs inside a big home where all of us dropped down the sliding towel. (I don’t remember it but mama told me about it) I had about 10 siblings and I was told I was the last smallest one in the litter that no one really wanted. I was actually chosen by a family before mama and returned back to that same foster family one week after they got me. (I’m not sure why but it may be because I was a troublemaker) 

To jump to the interesting part of my story. Mama decided to take me into her forever home. She later found out that I was a special kitten. When she got me from the foster parent she was initially told on the phone that I was a “female” kitten. Mama was a bit confused as she only had one female kitten in the years of having cats and she knows they are very sassy at times. 

Nevertheless, she put that aside and with a big open heart she agreed to bring me home. Only because she was told that I was returned from a previous owner and also the last in the litter.

When I got home mama already thought of a name for me. She decided to name me Bella. Thank goodness I wasn’t used to that name. She then had to take me for my first annual health check-up and unfortunately even the vet did not realize my actual gender was male. To let all pawrents know out there, this is a common thing in stray cats.  Female cats can get pregnant multiple times by different male cats during the process of them being pregnant. That might be why my biological brother looks very different from me. I am a mix of half snowshoe and half American shorthair while my biological brother is half domestic short-haired and half snowshoe. Mama has really never met any of the fathers but she assumed that out of the batch of 10 there must have been three or four male cats. Isn’t that insane? It’s why I am half the size of my biological brother! (Look at the photo beside my biological brother).

Now to reel back to what I mentioned about the vet not being able to realize my gender right away. This is because when you have a female cat mixed with so many different breeds of male cats this may (and it’s just by luck or it can be genetics) cause one or two percent of the kittens in that litter to have a disorder. In my case this disorder was actually passed down from genetics (I was tested by the vet to be told on that) and it is called Cryptorchidism. 

Cryptorchidism refers to the failure of one of both testicles to descend into the scrotum also known as “retained testicles”. This kind of condition is a rare condition in male cats that results in one or both testicles being retained perpetually in the abdomen rather than lowering into the scrotum, by which it usually should occur two to six months of age.

Thankfully mine did drop eventually but I was seven months in when I showed my true gender. This caused mama a huge panic. She had to go back to the vet and let them know about my real gender. Thankfully mama did have a backup name for a male which is why I am now named Milo (in honour of my previous brother, Zico, who passed away). This might be the reason why I sometimes have extreme mood swings, aggression behaviours, and think differently than a normal developed cat. My personality and attitude is very much like a female cat rather than a male, as all my brothers do not make biscuits “aka kneed” but I do. 

Mama says it has been an amazing learning journey with me through happiness and tough times and I love her to the end of this world for holding onto me and accepting me the way I am. This year I will be turning 10 and I will forever choose to be by my mama’s side. 

Story by Jiawen Wang, Milo’s Parent

Instagram: thepurrpawsbros