“One of his eyes is popping out!” a good Samaritan said in a frantic phone call to PETA’s Community Animal Project. The saint of a caller was dialing in from a rural Virginia town roughly 90 minutes from PETA’s Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. She’d found a kitten in a wooded area whose eyes needed some serious divine intervention, and PETA fieldworkers bolted to the scene.
The kitten, who was roughly 5 months old at the time, was indeed in rough shape. His right eye was so inflamed that it looked more like an oozing blueberry than an eyeball, and his left was nearly as bad. These afflictions, however, didn’t stop the purring kitten from making impressive biscuits on his blanket or leaning into fieldworkers’ touches.
The cat’s caring caller admitted that she had no funds for veterinary care and no transportation. Putting her faith in PETA’s hands, the good Samaritan asked fieldworkers to get the tiny tabby the help he desperately needed.
Once the kitten was safe at our shelter, PETA’s veterinary team started their healing straight away: A PETA licensed veterinary technician triaged the kitten the same day and began nursing his upper respiratory infection; one of PETA’s veterinarians enucleated (removed) the right eye the following morning and prescribed an aggressive treatment plan to ensure the kitten would have as sound vision as possible in the left eye; and a PETA veterinary assistant whisked the brown tabby home to foster care immediately following his surgery.
Because of the compassionate intervention of PETA’s CAP Team and the kitten’s miraculous recovery, the one-eyed cat’s foster guardian named him Bartimaeus, or Barti, after the blind man healed by Christ in Mark 10:46-52. (Should you ever find yourself attending Bible trivia night, you’ll know who to invite!)
Now with one eye (and one “i”), Barti was quick to adapt to life as an indoor-only cat. His foster guardian reports that the now 6-month-old tween is kind of the perfect companion cat: He’s equally happy to curl up for Bible time on his human’s lap or to attend a playful youth group with his feline foster friends. He’s had to return to PETA’s clinic for a veterinary recheck or two, and his foster guardian even reports that he’s quite keen on a car ride!
Barti has been neutered and fully vaccinated. While his left eye’s healing journey is miraculous, those interested in adopting Barti should be prepared for the possibility of needing to seek care from animal eye care specialists (as well as a general veterinarian). PETA fieldworkers thank Jesus for Barti’s fondness for road trips, as they will be chauffeuring the brown tabby to his adoptive home anywhere along or near the East Coast!
Barti’s list of kind adopter hopefuls is getting longer than Psalm 119. So, if you think you’re the answer to Barti’s prayers, contact PETA at [email protected].
