In Tampa, Florida, Joshua Hiebert was tidying up his garden in June of last year when he noticed a figure crouched in his driveway.
Hiebert told The Dodo, “I saw this small lump of an orange kitten sitting up against our garage door as I was heading back to the house. It was around 90 degrees outdoors and he was sitting in the sun on the concrete.
Hiebert checked the area, but there was no sign of the kitten’s mom, so he quickly took a video to show his husband, Jose Tortolero. Hiebert knew that a feral cat colony lived in his neighborhood and had tried to be kind to them when they were around.
“We’d fed them before, so we think the mom maybe felt comfortable leaving [the kitten] with us,” Hiebert said.
Hiebert checked the area, but there was no sign of the kitten’s mom, so he quickly took a video to show his husband, Jose Tortolero. Hiebert knew that a feral cat colony lived in his neighborhood and had tried to be kind to them when they were around.
The kitten stumbled inside the garage after Hiebert unlocked the entrance, where it squatted in a corner. Hiebert remarked, “He was really weak. “We noticed he wasn’t really interacting with us since he couldn’t even really keep his head up. For example, he didn’t appear to care whether or not we moved. But we explained it away by saying that he was severely dehydrated.
When Hiebert and Tortolero gave the kitten a dish of water, they saw that he tested the depth of the liquid by dipping his paw into it and tapping it. They discovered the orange kitty was blind at that point.
The couple rushed to the pet store for supplies and hand-fed the kitten, who seemed grateful for the meal and a comfortable place to sleep. The next day, the kitten, whom they named Whiskers, was full of energy.
They brought Whiskers to the vet for a checkup, where he was given eye drops, eye lubricants and antibiotics.
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