(Those of you who follow me on Instagram and Facebook
may already know some of this story)
About 3 weeks ago I was out in the garden and I kept hearing faint sounds of a bird
that I couldn't identify. As I got closer to the source, to my surprise,
out walked a tiny grey kitten probably no more than 3 or 4 weeks old.
No sign of mom around so I brought it in the house to make a call to
a friend of mine who I wanted advice from. She said I should probably
put it back as the mom may come back for it. I followed her advice
and sat in watch behind a hedge and sure enough the mom, a Siamese,
came back. We fed them and kept track of them for about a week and I
also saw a black kitten with them once. Obviously feral and hungry I wondered how
these three (or more) were surviving. After a week and a half there were no
signs of them so we stopped feeding them.
Flash forward: Last Saturday.
Tom spots the little grey kitten alone behind the barn.
He comes in to tell me and I go out there armed with a dish of food.
When I see it my heart wrenches.
It's eyes are so infected and oozing with puss that it is blind and
runs away at the sound of my footsteps.
I have a workshop to teach but Tom stays behind to try and catch it.
Success! When I get home he has it in a cat carrier and it is so afraid.
I take it out and see that this poor thing needs help.
It being Saturday evening with no vet open, I clean its eyes gently (they were crusted over)
and give it some polysporin eye drops and some food.
Sunday morning the vet here was open so I took it in to be examined.
Turns out "it's" a girl! She's about 7 or 8 weeks old and is suffering from a serious form
of conjunctivitis, a viral infection. Saving her eyesight is iffy but I am sent home with antibiotics,
worming medicine, eye drops and hope.
I've now named her Georgia since she is VERY curious (hence the George part but being a girl)
and also a nod to Ray Charles in case she does end up being blind.
I know she's not much to look at with the messed up eyes but oh my! she is so sweet!
I made her a playpen for sleeping in at night because she can't jump up and down yet
to use the litter box(which she is perfect at already!) and shouldn't mix with our other cat because the infection can be contagious and she doesn't make a peep!
When I'm here in the daytime she sits curled up on a sweater and a piece of faux fur
I had in my fabric stash. I thought she would like the furry feeling...
Since she's blind (only temporarily I hope) her sense of sound is acute and those tiny
ears are like little bats ears picking up radar whenever anything makes a noise.
Probably how she's managed to survive this long...
Georgia is just being a kitten despite her disability. Curious...
Playful...
Mischievous!
Her appetite is voracious which is an excellent sign and the vet said she has
a strong heart and there's no signs of pneumonia.
Georgia is one tiny purring machine and loves to cuddle. She likes to lay on my chest and puts
her tiny paw in that hollow spot at the base of my throat.
Maybe she likes the feel of my pulse.
Tom says we should call her Monster because of how she looks!
Whatever...she's now our little monster and I must say we are smitten with this kitten.
I hope and pray with all of my heart that she will one day see again.
(when I first found her she did have tiny open blue eyes)
Even if she can see with one eye, that would be grand.
So now it's time for my rant:
PLEASE!
Spay and neuter your pets!!
This is the face of a feral kitten.
It is a terrible, hard, dangerous and often fatal short life.
I urge you to donate to your nearest pet shelter to help
these defenseless creatures.
2 comments:
Bless you and yours for taking in this precious kitten. What about the other kittens and mom. Are you going to trap neuter release?
Hi Kerry, I saw your note on my blog, asking me for advice on this. I really have no experience with that sort of eye condition so will not dare say a word. i do know that of the 25+ I've cared for here, some became one eyed cats in time [the more ferel ones] and there was only so much I could do. I never saw one looking like this. I would think that also her system might be weakened, just because she is ferel and who knows the condition of mama. Having said that, I never would have thought our litters would make it, and they did. And sometimes, a healthy one year old just died. I do know that the mamas leave their young for extended periods, but I suppose at this point reintroducing her is not wise due to the condition, but maybe if you can get the condition under hand [again, this is for a vet, not me]and once the others are trapped/spayed neutered. They are also resiliant little things. Thank you for helping her!!
Post a Comment