A very special boy is leaving our home today.
As a new breeder, I (Stina) guess you learn something new with each litter and with every kitten. With Quinn, the lesson was a painful one.
At about 2 months of age, he developed an eye infection. I had seen the exact same symptoms in all of the kittens from the previous litter and thought I could cure it easily. With just some saline solution, this would ”clear up”.
Unfortunately for Quinn, I was very wrong. Some time went by and although I could see that his eye had not improved, I decided to ”wait”.
When Agnetha came to visit, she immediately saw that his eye needed veterinary attention. So that same day we went to the vet, who confirmed Agnethas initial observation:
Quinns eye was in really bad shape and the prognosis was not good. His cornea was damaged, maybe from a puncture wound. Or maybe from the infection itself.
In the following weeks, we fought to save his eye. Painkillers, antibiotics, cortisone and a range of other drugs and eye drops.
Sadly, the treatment did not help. If anything, Quinns eye had gotten even worse. I then had to make a very hard decision – keep treating the eye, do surgery, hoping it would somehow heal (Vets said the odds were 50/50), or remove the eye. I decided on the latter.
The procedure was fairly uncomplicated, and the surgical scar healed fast. Quinn recovered within days, and when I saw him playing happily and painlessly with his siblings I knew I had made the right decision.
I am sure that most of you who are reading this, can imagine how badly I have been blaming myself. I wish I had known how important it is to take eye issues seriously. I was simply too inexperienced. Maybe I had also taken on too big of a task, raising two litters very shortly after one another. My lack of experience and judgement is the reason he lost his eye. This is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
I have learned a very valuable lesson, and next time I will know how important it is to check your kittens eyes immediately, if anything seems out the ordinary. I am just so sad that someone literally had to lose an eye for me to learn this. ☹️
If I could have given my own eye to save his, I absolutely would have. What I actually could do, was to stop crying and give him what every kitten deserves: An amazing life.
We (Sebbe and Stina) had already fallen in love with Quinn. During the long weeks of constant eye treatments, we got really close to him. Even after we had to put painful drops in his poor eye, and force pills down his throat, he trusted us. We formed a very special bond with this amazingly brave little cat. We were definitely going to keep him.
Then the phone rang.
A woman was asking if we had any available kittens. I explained the situation, and she said ”That doesn’t matter, at all. The important thing is that he is healthy and that he has a good temperament.”
The person who called turned out to be Quinns future human mom, Hanna. ❤
When Hanna and Robin came to visit Quinn, they just sat with him for the longest time. There was so much love in the room. There was no question: they belonged together.
That is why Quinn is, after all, a very lucky kitten.
Needless to say, this loving and warm soul will be very much missed. But things could not have turned out better.
And look how beautiful he is:
Quinn, we are so sorry you lost your eye. We learned so much from you. Your kind and trusting spirit will be in our hearts forever. We wish you the best life, and we know that you will be very happy with Hanna and Robin. ❤❤❤
