Stevie is such a special boy, that when asked for a cat to highlight, staff immediately mentioned his name! One thing that makes Stevie’s story unique is that he is a blind kitty, with no eyes. Stevie stole the hearts of everyone who walked by his condo. Anybody who spent time with him would tell you that having no vision did not discourage him one bit!
When Stevie came to our shelter, he was suffering from a condition known as “Phthisis Bulbi”, which represents end stage ocular response. Both of his eyes were damaged beyond repair, causing total vision loss. So why does he have no eyes, you may ask? Damaged and infected eyes put cats at much higher risk of developing cancer. Due to the state of deterioration Stevie’s eyes were in, the risk of him developing cancer was incredibly high, proving necessary for both eyes to be enucleated. The surgery was performed by our wonderful surgery staff. Thanks to them Stevie got a brand new, healthy start in life!
Blind cats, with no eyes, are not always the easiest to adopt out. Not because they aren’t equally deserving as a cat with both of its eyes, but because of the fear adopters have of taking home a “special needs” cat. What adopters quickly found out, is Stevie did not let the loss of his eyes affect his ability to act like a typical cat. Sure, it may have taken him an extra few minutes to get used to his surroundings, but by using his whiskers as his eyes, Stevie was able to get up and down his condo shelves, find his food, water and litter box, and roll around playing with toys! The hardship is convincing an adopter to take that chance!
It was clear from the start Stevie was a sweet boy destined to be a comfy, spoiled, pampered housecat. We are happy to report, that’s exactly what he is! Stevie is loved unconditionally by his new family, including two other feline siblings. Stevie’s new family described him as having the “biggest personality”, but everybody here at FAPL knew that already! He now sits in his warm home and his comfy pajamas without a worry in the world. We could not be any happier to see him living his best life, which is what he has always deserved, and we are very thankful for his new family. Stevie was the most joyous story to end 2023 on, and he wants to thank everybody who supports animal rescue. Stories like Stevie’s make the hard parts of animal welfare worth it. No amount of money or heart ache will stop us from advocating for animals like Stevie.
A note from Stevie’s new family –
“He is doing fantastic! He loves to play with his brother Myron and his sister Milk that we also adopted from the APL. He has the biggest personality and an even bigger heart, he loves to cuddle, and he loves to follow us around the house everywhere we go. We all love him so much. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to bring him into our family!”
