They Were Chosen by the Cat Distribution System—Then Came the Heartbreak

Newsweek

4 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
While driving back from Georgia, a mom and daughter spotted a stray kitten almost getting run over, so they immediately got out and rescued her. Then they discovered her severe injuries, which so far, have cost them around $1,000.
In a Reddit post shared on Sunday under the username u/Rin_10_10, the woman's other daughter, 32-year-old Erin, from Greenville, South Carolina, revealed that the kitten was found with a broken chin, and in need of extensive medical help.
"I think she is only around 2-3 weeks old. I'm just feeling really overwhelmed and sad at the same time. I wish the world wasn't so cruel especially to something so small and innocent. I just want to give her a fighting chance," she writes in the post.
Erin told Newsweek that because neither her mom or her sister could care for the kitten, now known as Miso, she took her home herself, even though she didn't have any previous experience caring for kittens, especially injured ones.
Pictures shared by the poster show the injured little kitten, Miso.
Pictures shared by the poster show the injured little kitten, Miso.
u/Rin_10_10
"I was also really stressed out and anxious because she wasn't eating and I didn't know how to care for her. I was a crying mess because we suddenly had this injured kitty and we had zero clue how to make her better. Reddit told me to take her to the emergency vet and to make a GoFundMe to help pay for her expenses so I did," she said.
"The emergency vet said that the injury on her chin was possibly from rolling on the asphalt and it was called a degloving injury. Basically she has no skin where her chin is. They did a surgery on her chin to try to reattach the skin but Miso pulled her stitches out so my family vet has to do another surgery on her to reattach it."
Beside her chin injury, Miso is doing great with her new mom, finally getting the life that every kitten like her deserves.
"Her personality is really coming out. She's always on the move and she has such a quirky and spunky personality," Erin said.
"We have an other dog, Aspen who has really taken to caring for her. It's kind of funny because I've never seen him act so caring towards anything. He doesn't get along with most other animals but I think he instinctively knows that she needs someone to take care of her."
Out in the wild, the odds are poor for cats. While indoor cats can live into their early 20s, with proper care, stray cats have an average life span of around two to five years, says Georgia-based veterinarian Dr. Jess Kirk in a Vet Explains Pets article.
On the streets, they face countless dangers. They are constantly exposed to the elements, often struggle to find food and water, and they can't access veterinarian care when something happens to them.
Bigger predators are another major threat to stray cats, but perhaps the biggest danger for them out there is traffic. It is estimated that around 5.4 million cats are hit by cars every year in the U.S., and 97 percent of them succumb to their injuries.
The post has so far received over 1,400 upvotes and 119 comments on the platform.
One user, My_own_prisonn, commented: "Thank you so much for helping her!! I'm glad you took her to the vet and she will be OK."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [e-mail] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.