Joshua Hiebert was tidying up his yard in Tampa, Florida, in June when he noticed a hunched figure on his driveway.
“I observed this small lump of an orange cat resting up against our garage door as I was heading back to the home,” Hiebert told. “He was on the concrete in the sun, and it was around 90 degrees outdoors.”
Hiebert looked around but couldn’t find the kitten’s mother, so he hurriedly recorded a video to show his spouse, Jose Tortolero. Hiebert was aware of a wild cat colony in his area and had made an effort to be kind to them when they were there.
“We’d fed them previously,” Hiebert explained, “so we assume the mom felt safe leaving [the kitten] with us.”
The kitty wandered inside as Hiebert unlocked the garage door and huddled in a corner. Hiebert described him as “extremely feeble.” “We saw he wasn’t really connecting with us since he couldn’t even hold his head up.” In other words, if we relocated, he didn’t appear to mind. But we put it down to his being really dehydrated.”
When Hiebert and Tortolero placed a dish of water in front of the kitten, they noted that he put his paw in and tapped the water before drinking, as if evaluating its level. That’s then they discovered the small orange kitty was deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafen.
The couple dashed to the pet store for supplies and hand-fed the cat, who appeared thankful for the food and a warm bed. The kitten, whose they called Whiskers, was full of activity the next day.
Whiskers was taken to the vet for a checkup, where he was given antibiotics, eye drops, and eye lubricants.
Whisker’s eyes improved with therapy, but he’s still virtually completely blind, seeing only changes in light and movement. His fathers are still hopeful that with time and care, his vision will recover, and they are doing everything they can to assist him.
Whiskers, now 6 months old, is an active and independent kitten who enjoys playing with his two canine siblings.
Hiebert described him as “the loveliest.” “When he’s playing, he’ll never put his claws into you.” He’s a sweetheart.”
“Every time he finishes eating, he becomes delighted,” he continued. “He gets the jitters and rushes around the house,” says the mother.
Whiskers is content as long as he is near one of his fathers, despite the fact that he still needs to mend and develop. Hiebert and Tortolero are happy to have him in their lives and homes.
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