Nicole had just lost her father and best friend when she crossed paths with a peculiar looking black cat.
Just in time for Halloween is a campy story about a vampire that will send chills and shivers up your spine. However, this isn’t your Twilight or True Blood kind of vampire, but the furry, kitty kind! People’s superstitious beliefs tend to come out in full force this time of year. You may be familiar with one of the most popular ones out there – that crossing the path of a black cat will bring you bad luck. But, if you ask Nicole Rienzie about her “vampire” cat, she’ll probably tell you that he was exactly what she needed to turn her luck around.
Nicole had just lost her father and her best friend, and as you can imagine after experiencing such painful loss back-to-back, it was pretty much the darkest time of her life.
She never thought she’d be able to overcome her depression, but when a tiny black floof darted in front of her car, he changed everything. The scrappy kitten was in pretty bad shape – he was covered in fleas and his “eyes were so infected he couldn’t see.” There was just something about him that haunted and mesmerized her from the very beginning. “We swooped him up and took him home, cleaned him up, fed him and that’s pretty much where it all began,” she told The Dodo. At first, Nicole decided to call him Sergio, but that name didn’t stick for very long.
He had a wild personality and a penchant for swinging on things, so she renamed him Monkey, or Monk for short.
Monk, as it turns out, was no ordinary cat. When his adult canine teeth started growing in, they almost wouldn’t stop! He’s exactly what you’d imagine a sabertooth and black panther crossbreed would look like if they were domesticated house cats. “He’s got these really long fangs. He looks like a little vampire.” They’re about three-quarters of an inch long, which is almost twice the length of an average cat.
Nicole has been accused of photoshopping Monk’s fangs to look like a vampire’s toothy grin, but that’s just not true.
“His happen to be larger than most cats who grow long fangs, but the vet said that sometimes just happens, but there’s nothing wrong with it at all.” Monk became so popular with friends and family, she started posting updates about him on social media. “People stop and want to take pictures, but they don’t have much to say because they’re in so much awe of his teeth. When they’re speechless it’s hilarious.” Monk now has a brother named Bean, a black-furred rescue who is equally adorable. You can catch up with the two getting into trouble on their Instagram page. In one of her darkest hours, a bewitching floof gave Nicole exactly what she needed for some major emotional healing.
Watch the video below to find out more about this vampire cat’s story.
