“I am the Night! I am the Void! Achoo!”
Cody’s life began in a really horrible way. The TNR crew believed that his mother had been killed. They found Cody and his sister almost starved to death. The kittens were three weeks old at the time and when they showed up at our place, Cody didn’t have enough strength to sit up, so he rested on his side, just trying to survive. His left eye was bulging out of his skull, a mass of tissues and blood vessels that threatened to erupt at any time. Cody’s sister was a little better, but not much. They weighed 360 grams each.
This is the only picture we have of them from that time. We were so crazy busy with TNR hold-over, a new mama with babies and another set of kittens that taking pictures was about the last thing on our minds. Things got even more complicated as soon it became obvious thast both babies had panleukopenia. No amount of time at the emergency vet and later at our vet’s clinic was enough for the little girl – she expired not long after a day of hope when both of them looked like they were going to pull through. It was the first time in a long time that we’ve experienced the utter horror of the panleukopenia virus that every single cat rescuer knows very well – you provide supportive measures and then you pray, mediate, perhaps drink. Anything to make the time pass while little baby cats fight for their lives.
But, Cody persevered. It was a long road he padded on, but eventually he came through on the other side of a deadly illness and began showing massive signs of improvement. Now, we had time to properly evaluate his left eye. Our vet referred us to the magnificent Dr Carla Hibbs at Eye Care for Animals and Cody was off to rounds of treatments for what was left of his eyeball.
His prognosis was pretty good and we found out pretty quickly that he didn’t seem to be aware of his loss of vision – the moment he regained his strength, he was off wrestling with cats ten times his size and having the time of his life. Over the next few months, his eyeball improved and while he has no vision in it, no surgery was required and so it remains an interesting looking reminder of some very tough times.
Here’s Cody today – a strong, vivacious Void with an appetite for any and all food and a playful streak a mile wide. He also likes bras. A lot.
