More than 700 days is a long time for a cat to be passed by for the same reason, especially when the reason is a crooked smile. At Valley Animal Center in Fresno, Cordova has become the kind of shelter cat staff members cannot forget. She was left outside the gates in a dog crate with another cat, and while that companion found a home quickly, Cordova stayed behind. After major dental work left her without most of her top teeth, she developed an underbite and a permanent off-center grin, complete with the tiny tongue-out look shelter workers describe as her “derp.” The expression makes people pause. It also seems to make some of them keep walking.
Cat care specialist Anjanette Mendoza has seen the reaction up close. “We have gotten the feeling that it is a little bit intimidating, even if she’s not the kind of cat who really has an attitude in that way,” Mendoza says. That mismatch between face and personality shows up often in shelters. Another cat, Sausage Link in New Jersey, was also overlooked because of a unique bottom lip that sticks out further than her top, even after a veterinary check found no pain behind her unusual look. Shelter workers described her as sweet and laid-back, but appearance still shaped how people judged her before they knew anything else. Cordova faces a similar problem, only hers is paired with a quieter temperament that does not compete well in a busy adoption room.
She is gentle, but she does not advertise it. Cordova prefers a warm bed near a window over rushing to the front of her kennel for attention. In a shelter, that can work against a cat. Stress changes behavior in ways visitors may not understand, and even affectionate animals can seem shut down in noisy, unfamiliar surroundings. One account of an adopted shelter cat showed how quickly a “sad” and withdrawn pet transformed once he was away from a constant stream of unfamiliar and overwhelming experiences. For reserved cats, the shelter version is often only part of the story.
What Cordova appears to need is not complicated, just patient. A calmer home, no dogs, and time to settle would likely suit her best. Guidance for confining a fearful cat to a small, quiet room points to a simple pattern: give the cat one manageable space, keep routines steady, move slowly, and let contact happen on the cat’s timeline. Meals, soft conversation, and low-pressure play can become the bridge. Trust tends to grow faster when people stop trying to rush it.
Stories from adopters of unusual-looking and special-needs cats keep landing on the same truth. The cats who seem hardest to place are often the ones who become deeply attached once they feel safe. One adopter who chose a shelter cat others called “ugly” later said, “I think she’s the most perfect girl ever.” That kind of shift does not change the cat. It changes the human who finally looks long enough to see her. For now, Cordova is still waiting, still wearing the grin that keeps getting misunderstood. It would be really exciting, I think, for everybody that works here currently to see her go home finally, Mendoza shares.
