[Nfbk] Blind kitten rescue story

[slery]

This is a heart warming story from the local paper. I have included a link
to the text version and I have pasted the whole story below.

Cindy

http://newsandtribune.com/local/x1364887410/A-warm-and-fuzzy-story/print

Evening News and Tribune
November 7, 2010
A warm and fuzzy story

BY AMANDA ARNOLD
newsroom at newsandtribune.com

> SOUTHERN INDIANA - Animal shelters in the area are well aware that kitten
season usually begins in March and runs through July, but this year it
lasted a bit longer, according to the Animal Protection Association in
Jeffersonville.

"We get calls all the time and we still have a lot of kittens that we're
dealing with and getting in," said Jan Baird, volunteer for APA.

However, there are also very special calls about extraordinary kittens. Near
the end of summer, APA received a call from a woman who found a pillowcase
on the roadway, but she became curious when the pillowcase moved. Inside
were six little kittens, but only four were still alive.

"We thought that they'd have to get to a vet pretty quickly because kittens
need to eat fairly often," Baird said.

Because of the rush to the vet, Baird was unable to get the phone number of
the woman who saved the kittens.

Kerry, Kyle, Kennedy and Kevin were taken in by the APA to be nursed back to
health, which was greatly needed, especially for little Kennedy. While all
four kittens had eye infections, Kennedy's eyes were not completely formed
and both had to be removed to prevent lymphoma later in life. Kerry is
partially blind because she had one eye that had to be removed because of
infections.  

Even though Kennedy is blind, and Kerry also has vision problems, they ran
around and played with the other kittens in the open space at APA.

"They were in a room with other kittens, and even though they were blind,
they picked up on what the other kittens were doing. They would get on the
bed and jump off," Baird said. "... Not sure how they knew it was OK to do
that. They climb on scratching poles and play with the others. Occasionally,
they would run into things, but not real often."



GETTING BETTER

Kerry had to overcome a lot of obstacles, including being the smallest of
the bunch, and she needed very special care that included feedings from a
syringe for three weeks.

Kyle was the most rambunctious of the group and acquired "Clinger" as a
nickname.

"He would run and jump onto our pant legs whenever we'd go into the room. We
started wearing long pants in there. He just wanted to be held and loved
on," Baird said.   

Meanwhile, Kevin's eyes are a little filmy and he's healing from a parasite
that caused diarrhea, but "he does a really good job at playing."        

"All of them have been real lovable kittens and real special," Baird said.

And, the great news is, all four have been adopted into permanent homes.



SO YOU KNOW

. Kathy A. Melvin, of Business Integrated Communications, works on Animal
Protection Agency's public relations and said there is always an abundance
of cats and kittens in need of a good home. Some are at the shelter and some
of them are in the foster care system, which is important to APA since it's
a no-kill shelter operated by all volunteers and receives only donations.
It's also important that pet owners take more responsibility.

"We desperately want people to spay and neuter their pets," Melvin said.  

She added that according to Spay USA an unfixed female, its mate and
offspring could result in 11,666,000 cats in nine years. For dogs, it's
67,000 over that time.

"If people would just spay and neuter their pets, it would end pet
overpopulation and shelters wouldn't have to euthanize. These are special
kittens, but there are a lot of others that need homes . . . We have a great
shelter," said Melvin, who has six cats and two dogs at home.  

For those who cannot adopt at this time, volunteers are encouraged to come
in and just play with the cats to help socialize them. For more information
on volunteering and adopting, visit http://apa-pets.org, or just visit the
shelter located at 702 E. 11th St.