2022 has had no shortage of bummers—$5 gas, Eastern Europe on the brink and a kitten season from Hell—but whenever you want to feel sorry for yourself, take a deep breath and think about the following furballs who have experienced more hardship than you ever will and still keep warmth in their heart.
Storm, came to us two days ago, badly emaciated and with a leg that smelled worse than your dorm room on a Sunday morning. Rotten from untreated injury, his front leg was cemented to his body from hardened pus and scabbing. Similarly situated, I’d be a little bitter, but when we met him, Storm leaned into an ear smoosh, offered an appreciative purr, and now, after surgery to remove the necrotic flesh, free his leg (no breaks!) and treat his infection, his priority isn’t who he can sue for damages, but how can he keep this glorious thing called wet food coming.
We first heard about Milton from a Samaritan who reported this old-timer happened on her doorstep with some sort of skin ailment. Our flashlight inspection suggested that Milton had his share of street fights and maybe a bad case of mites, so we hustled him in for fixin’ and a dose of extra strength Revolution. Turns out, Milton didn’t have mites…he had scabbing, broken teeth and nails from some sort of panicked response to some unknown trauma. As I write, Milton is still recovering from his first bath ever (“OMG, this cat has white fur!”), but despite the meanness the world showed him, Milton is still the same gentle soul he was on intake and, because of it, on track to spend the rest of his life in a comfy lap.
And then there’s Stumpy, a little black kitten we wrote about a few weeks back with a foot torn to the bone and blind in one eye. Me…life hands me that in my first month of life, I’m salty, but Stumpy acts like it’s all part of growing up. To be fair, the KF crew treats her better than they’d ever treat me, she's seeing an eye specialist and Mama Su is forwarding me YouTube videos about some cat in Siberia with frostbite and insisting that Stumpy be the third cat on the planet with a titanium paw. But despite all the talent advocating for her, all this little bizzie knows is there’s ProPlan pate twice a day and if you happen to pee on your stuffed animal, you can have another one no questions asked—and life at Kirkland is way better than it was on the street. Storm, Milton and Stumpy.
