***TRIGGER WARNING, SAD STORY INVOLVING DEATH AND GROSS DETAILS*** This is Ash. Ash was the first kitten that made me realize how much these kittens need help.
Ash was very sick, his eyes were crusted shut and full of this weird milky, yellowish liquid. My dad and I think the goop was actually his liquefied eyeballs, as when we opened one of his eyes and the goop shot out with a bunch of force, we only saw some of his eye socket, no eyeball.
Ash was very trusting with humans, he'd hear the voice of someone and would meow and try to find you, even though he couldn't see. His mom abandoned him, as they do when a kitten is this sick.
The day I found him was horrible, I had just gotten back from my aunt's house, and I found him in our driveway, almost in reach of where my aunt's dogs could have gotten him. I picked him up and took him to the barn, hoping one of the moma cats would take him in, but they all rejected him (one even hissed at him). The next day I found him outside of the barn in the area that our Mules walk around in. He was in the grass, soaking wet from the rain and dew, in the dangerous area where he could've been stepped on at any moment, but he heard me and started calling for me.
I fell in love with this guy, but he wouldn't eat or drink (we have milk replacements and bottles for kittens) and he was so frail that he had a hard time walking. On his last day, I made an emergency vet appointment because of how bad he was and sadly we had to put him down as he was flinging his head back and twitching, trying to pass. He was doing good until that day, I though he was going to make it.
We have this sweetheart buried in our backyard with a beautiful flower growing above his grave.
Ash is the cold-hard-truth of what happens when animals aren't taken care of, even if they're wild and "working" animals. He's also a sad reminded of why TNR is so important, because if his mom or dad were fixed, this would never had happened. He never would have had to suffered for the month or so he did before passing. Poor guy didn't even get a chance at a real life.
He is also the biggest inspiration of why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Rest in peace, Ash, I'm doing my best to make sure none of your siblings/cousins face the same horrid fate as you did.
