As some of you may know, we adopted Willy last summer (August) from the Cleveland APL. At that time, he had been in the shelter for about a month and a half and he was not doing well. He had been confiscated from his previous owner due to neglect, one of his eyes had to be removed and his remaining eye was very badly infected (our vet thinks it's due to the feline herpes virus). His whiskers were broken, he was too small, and he was just an ugly cat. My heart went out to him when I went near his cage and he reached out for me - I ended up opening the cage and standing there with him curled in my arms. He wouldn't look at me - he didn't depend on his sight, he depended on touch. He pawed at me and nuzzled my face.

I talked to the vet there, who said his eye would probably never get better but it seemed stabilized. I knew no one would adopt him looking the way he did, and with the health issues he had. I talked to Erik that evening and he said I could adopt him, so the next day I picked him up. They put him in one of those cardboard boxes with holes that all shelters have, and he ended up having a panic attack on the way home. He's gotten stuck in a closet since living with us and freaked out as well, I think that is directly related to his neglect.

Willy spent the first few days with me on the couch, not moving too much. At that point I know he couldn't see that much and I wasn't sure how well he'd get along in our house. Anytime the other cats tried to check him out, he seemed startled. Then one day I was cleaning out the fridge and I noticed him start to explore and climb. He then started to pounce at the other cats, and I knew he'd be okay.

Willy's eye was the main issue we had to tackle. His third eyelid was out all the time, covering half his eye, and it was swollen and infected. His eye was also very cloudy, impairing his sight even more. They eye also constantly pussed. We started with a round of medication and eye ointment. He went through a surgery in which the third eyelid was snipped where it had fused to the inner eyelid as well as part of the eye. After the surgery, he was on more oral medication as well as medicated drops. For a few months after the surgery, he would occasionally flare up and I'd have to treat his eye with the drops.

It's almost a year later and I haven't had to put drops in his eyes for at least six months. He hasn't had a flare up, hasn't shown any sign of infection. He still has sinus issues, I don't think that will ever go away, it comes along with the herpes...but it's definitely not as bad as before.

His eye is now fully open, and a lot of the cloudiness is gone - I can see the brown in his eye more and more each day. Shortly after the surgery, I could tell Willy's sight improved - he could see everything almost perfectly, for probably the first time in his life. He acted like a kitten in his behavior, running around and exploring, truly seeing everything for the first time. He still is very touch-oriented, but I love the fact that I can see him watching me now. He's done that a lot since his surgery...he just sits and watches me do whatever I'm doing.

The other day, he chirped at birds out the window for the first time - the crazy chatter that all cats do when they see them out there. He's done it almost every day since, and every time it makes my heart skip a beat. It's just so amazing to know that we made such an important change in his life and that now he'll live the life he's supposed to have.

Here are two shots from early when Willy moved in with us.




And here are more recent shots. In the second shot you can see the brown of his eye - before the surgery, all you could see was the pupil.

:luv2: he looks fantastic now... soo healthy and happy... your're such a wonderful kitty mommy Chrystal :kittyluv:

I actually cried reading this! :luv2:

Me too!


What a transformation!!! He's so lucky to have you and Eric! :hug:

I started to cry a bit when I wrote it, too. :luv2:

Thank you everyone. I just love him so much and every day I just can't bear to think what would have happened if I hadn't gone to the APL with my sister that day to adopt her kitten.

God Bless Willy :kittyluv:

Giant hugs! He is looking :luv1: quite handsome. Give him pets from us

Aww Crystal and Erik :hug: :hug: You guys are the best :thumbsup:
Willy looks great ... beautiful, happy, and healthy :luv2:

I was taking pictures of the cats the other day and look at Willy's eye! I've noticed in the past few weeks that it's cleared up so much more (he hasn't been on treatment for over 6 months...almost a year at this point...so I don't know WHAT caused it to clear up so much) and if you didn't know what he looked like originally, you'd never know he had issues in that eye at all.

He's got his annual coming up soon and I can't WAIT to show Dr. Thompson!!

That's great Crystal!