By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-11 15:01:43 | Updated at 2025-03-12 05:27:07
14 hours ago
A Los Angeles woman, who lost her home to the Palisades Fire, was certain her beloved pet cat was swept up in the flames as well.
But it turns out that Katherine Kiefer's cat did have more than one life.
Kiefer has been mourning the loss of her five-year-old Maine Coon cat named Aggie for two months.
Aggie disappeared in the fires that consumed and destroyed Kiefer's Pacific Palisades home on January 7.
But volunteers clearing out the damage miraculously found the terrified cat this week hiding in the wildfire rubble, KTLA reported.
The cat was near starvation, so she was rushed to an emergency veterinary hospital, where Kiefer had a tearful reunion with her cherished pet.
Video shows Kiefer bursting into a fit of sobs as soon as the vet brought her survival-worn feline into the exam room.
She then was given Aggie, cradling her while beaming into the camera.
Katherine Kiefer cradles her beloved five-year-old cat named Aggie. The cat was missing for two months after Kiefer's home burnt to the ground in the Pacific Palisades fire
Aggie was found this week by volunteers sifting through the rubble of Kiefer's home. It was near starvation and was transported to an emergency veterinary hospital
'It was Aggie, and she was just skin and bones but she was responsive and she recognized our voices,' Kiefer told KTLA.
'And it was truly a miracle. I just couldn't see how anybody could have survived. I don't know what to say except that I just feel really, really lucky,' she added.
Kiefer said she had been 'distraught' over Aggie's disappearance and had been 'fearing the worst' before she was discovered.
Aggie has already received two blood transfusions and her condition is improving.
Kiefer's daughter, Carolyn, made a GoFundMe on Monday to help pay for Aggie's continuing treatment.
The fundraiser has already raised more than $16,000, well past the $13,000 goal.
Carolyn previously shared a separate GoFundMe days after her mother and father lost their home. That one has raked in over $43,000 toward the $75,000 goal.
The Kiefers were just one family that lost everything to the horrific wildfires that scorched tens of thousands of acres of land in Southern California.
Homes in the Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles, burn in the wildfires on January 7
Pictured: A whole neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades was reduced to rubble after the LA fires raged all throughout January
The fires, which burned for weeks as firefighters worked to get them under control, killed at least 29 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures and torched over 57,000 acres of land in Malibu, Pasadena, Altadena and the Pacific Palisades
The total economic loss from the fires is estimated to be $250 billion, which includes factors such as anticipated cleanup costs, housing displacement and businesses shutting down.
Real estate losses from the Palisades and the Eaton fires are predicted to surpass $30 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Last month, California Gavin Newsom asked Congress for nearly $40 billion to help rebuild the areas affected.
At the time, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson both suggested that there could be conditions that California will need to meet in order to continue to get federal aid for the wildfires.
