I work at a municipal animal shelter in a rural town. We see lots of kittens come through. Many are riddled with parasites, infections, and illnesses. This was not uncommon at all.
On August 13th, 2020, after I had already left work for the day, I received a call from my manager asking me to return to work to help with a kitten intake. I never say no to helping kittens.
I rushed back to work and pulled a tiny 4-week old kitten from the dingy carrier it arrived in. She was crying and clearly something was wrong. Her eyes were matted shut with infection and on her backside were fly larvae. There were TONS! The most I had ever seen!
I called my manager and we discussed euthanasia. I put the brakes on that and said she was still lively and so we sent her to the emergency vet. It was a 20 minute drive and I kept telling the kitten "If you make it, I'll keep you forever."
When I dropped her off at the vet, I thought "She's not going to make it."
Well, she made it! She came back to me the next day, exhausted and with pretty bad eyes (which were medicated and have healed their best!)
I named her Freya because she was such a strong little kitten. I mainly call her Freya-beanie now and she comes when she hears that name. She purrs non-stop and always wants to be near me. She has several siblings now who all adore her (even the dogs!).
I can't imagine life without my Freya-beanie. She will never have "normal" cat eyes and she does have some blind spots, but that doesn't seem to slow her down much!
LINCOLNTON, NC
