Last summer, we asked for help on Facebook for a little kitten named Clara, whose right eye looked like something out of nightmares. Our veterinarian thought it would have to be removed. Through the kindness of our Facebook friends, we raised enough to pay for the surgery.
Then a miracle happened…Clara’s eye healed well enough she didn’t need the surgery after all! Our generous donors let us pay it forward for the next kitten.
It didn’t take long before we got the call that a kind couple with too many outside cats needed help. By the time our TNR Coordinator Barb finished trapping and fixing the last one, we had rescued 13 kittens and rehabilitated them into happy families…and TNR’d another 30!
Almost all of of the kittens started out with eye infections. Joey wasn’t found when the rest of his family was brought in, so he missed out on the medication they got at first. When we finally got him in a couple of weeks later, it was too late for his poor little eyes.
Not too late for his spirit though! Joey would start purring the moment you let him know you were there, rolling around and flirting like the big kitties.
Unfortunately, this time the diagnosis of enucleation couldn’t be avoided. But we still had the funds raised with Clara’s help, so we were able to get the surgery as soon as our friends at Bijou Animal Hospital could fit him in.
His recuperation was surprisingly swift. Meanwhile, Sarah, one of our awesome Adoption Counselors, couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Her only holdup was her big best kitty friend, Riley, who had a secret heart on his belly!
He had been Sarah’s One and Only for his whole life, and she wasn’t sure how that would go over. At about 12 pounds, Riley was 4 times the size of Joey. So we did a Foster to Adopt for little Joey.
Even if it wasn’t a good fit, Sara would be able to give him the post-surgery care he needed in a loving home instead of the shelter. Joey settled right in!
Sara took it as slow as she could. It didn’t hurt that Joey was fearless! And Riley was surprisingly gentle.
It wasn’t long before they were best buds, playing hard, purring hard, and being Sarah’s best kitty companions!
