An 11-week-old kitten was near death, then another rescue cat stepped in.
Dandelion, an orange tabby, was found on the streets of Bradford, UK, and urgently taken to a vet. Bradford Cat Watch Rescue and Sanctuary volunteer Katie Lloyd told the BBC the kitten had been at the vet for two and a half weeks, but did not get treatment.
“Dandelion had been in the vets for two and a half weeks, and unfortunately, because there was no one able to pay the bill, the vets felt they weren’t able to offer the care, and his condition deteriorated rapidly,” Lloyd told the BBC.
“His red blood cell levels decreased so much that he went from having anemia, I mean severe life-threatening anaemia, and, when I picked him up, he was pretty much collapsed,” she said.
Volunteers then took Dandelion to Northcote Veterinary Surgery, a practice they trust. There, another cat from the rescue, a blind cat named Carrots, turned out to be a match for a blood transfusion.
Carrots is a therapy cat in the sanctuary’s care and is known by volunteers for “seeing with his heart,” Lloyd told the BBC.
“It was a bit of a stab in the dark, ‘Which cat shall we use?’ and I was just like, ‘Oh it’s got to be Carrots. It’ll be Carrots,’ and by chance it was,” she said.
The rescue said the transfusion would not cure Dandelion’s anaemia, but it bought time to “seek specialist advice.”
“It could have gone very wrong, but it didn’t,” Lloyd told the BBC. “So we’ve just got to be grateful for that. We had a kitten that was dying in front of us, so we really had nothing to lose.”
About 48 hours after the transfusion, Dandelion had gained more than 20 percent of his body weight back and was responding well, according to the rescue.
In a later update, the rescue said Dandelion had a “turbulent” few days and suddenly stopped eating. It said he is now in the care of a trusted veterinarian, has his blood tested every two days, and has his medications adjusted as needed.
Lloyd told the BBC Dandelion will need close monitoring for the next few months as he recovers while living with the other 65 cats cared for by the rescue, including Carrots, which the sanctuary calls “the bright orange light in Dandelion’s darkest hour.”
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