Blind kittens defy odds despite 'horrific' cat flu

Three kittens are looking for new homes after recovering from a life-threatening bout of cat flu which left them all blind.

Kellie Colson, who runs 9 Lives Cat Rescue in Hull, was handed four very ill kittens by a local vet after they had been found in the street.

She said she had "never seen a kitten look like that in my life" and described the illness as "horrific - the worst case I've ever seen".

While one kitten, Florence, lost her life to the illness, the remaining three - Ricky, Tyson and Zoe - made what Kellie calls a "remarkable" recovery.

She said the kittens were "very sneezy, had very congested chests, were wheezy and had very, very gunky eyes".

Despite medication and round-the-clock care, with Kellie even taking the cats with her on holiday to Scotland, their infected eyes did not improve.

Ricky and Tyson both needed one of their eyes removing at six weeks old and were left blind in the remaining eye. Zoe has kept both her eyes, but is blind and may need surgery in the future.

When discussing her decision to take on their case, Kellie said she would have "made the right decision" to euthanise the cats, but because they were "gaining weight and behaving like normal kittens", she felt they were "worth giving a chance".

"And many people cope without eyesight, so I'm sure the kittens will," she added.

"They don't know any different, do they?"

The thriving threesome are now seven weeks old and once signed off from a vet, will be looking for new homes.

Kellie said the kittens "will have some special requirements" from their adoptive homes, but they were adapting to life without sight and she hoped they would have a "really good future of being like any other cat".

Kellie said the urgent surgery the cats needed cost £2,500, which had had a "massive impact financially" on her charity.

She said after funding the operations she was "left with nothing, and you've still got your other cats to feed and vaccinate, neuter, microchip".

She described the situation with stray cats and kittens in Hull as "almost out of control", and urged anyone thinking about taking on a cat to ensure they could pay for neutering and microchipping before they brought them home.

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