One day, like any other, Mari Cruz sent us photos of a couple of kittens with eye problems who needed treatment. She finds homes for them and manages eight established cat colonies in Elche with other volunteers, so it's common for her to bring us felines that need veterinary care, medication, special attention, or sterilization to prevent the colonies from becoming overcrowded.
This particular pair of kittens, whom we've affectionately named Rubio and Siamese for obvious reasons, were in critical condition. We received photos of Rubio with a very sick eye, one he couldn't even open. And sharing a cage with him was Siamese.
Seeing Rubio's poor condition, we told her to bring him to the clinic, and once he was with us, we realized he was even worse than we could have imagined. One of his eyes was in very bad shape; he couldn't even open it, and we didn't know if we could save it and restore his vision. He also had a very productive cough and runny nose, so he was very weak, dehydrated, and malnourished for his young age.
We focused all our efforts on Rubio to begin his recovery, but approximately two weeks later, the news we were expecting arrived... Because Rubio had shared a cage with Siamese and because puppies are so prone to catching diseases, he had transmitted the bacteria to him and his current condition was much worse than when we picked him up.
Siamese, in addition to having a lot of mucus and being very thin and weak, arrived with both eyes completely closed, inflamed and suppurating, with such severity that we started thinking about how we could raise funds to operate on his eyes, because we believed that they would have to be removed and he would inevitably go blind.
We devoted ourselves entirely to them. They were hospitalized, and we took turns coming every day, even Sundays, to treat them, feed them, clean them, give them cuddles and affection... and after many weeks, we managed to get them gradually recovering, to the point that Siamese, who was the worst off, seems as if he never had any eye problems and has perfect vision, and Rubio, for his part, is also fully recovered, except for occasional slight tearing in the eye that was sick.
Initially our idea was to look for a joint adoption for them, because with everything this couple has been through despite their young age, how much they have kept each other company and supported each other so much, it didn't seem fair to separate them.
However, because we've grown so fond of them and worried so much about them that something might go wrong, they've finally become part of Ana's family, our veterinarian, and now they're two gorgeous, super sociable, and healthy 5-month-old cats who just want to play and be cuddled. They also share their lives with Tana and Nata, the two dogs who are the queens of the sofa in their house, and they haven't hesitated to accept them into the pack, fitting in perfectly and forming a tight-knit group.
