3 min read
First Reading
“One of his eyes is popping out!” a good Samaritan said in a frantic phone call to PETA’s Community Animal Project. The saint of a caller was dialing in from a rural Virginia town roughly 90 minutes from PETA’s Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. She’d found a kitten in a wooded area whose eyes needed some serious divine intervention. Moving as fast as Elijah outrunning a chariot, PETA fieldworkers bolted to the scene. And God almighty, the good Samaritan wasn’t exaggerating.
The kitten, who was roughly 5 months old at the time, was indeed in rough shape. His right eye was so inflamed that it looked more like an oozing blueberry than an eyeball, and his left was nearly in purgatory. These afflictions, however, didn’t stop the purring kitten from making impressive biscuits on his blanket or leaning into fieldworkers’ touches.
The cat’s caring caller admitted that she had no funds for veterinary care and no transportation. Putting her prayers in PETA’s hands, the good Samaritan asked fieldworkers to get the tiny tabby the help he desperately needed.
Second Reading
Once the kitten was safe at our shelter, PETA’s veterinary team (the closest thing PETA fieldworkers have to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) started their healing straight away: A PETA licensed veterinary technician triaged the kitten the same day and began nursing his URI; one of PETA’s veterinarians enucleated (removed) the right eye the following morning and prescribed an aggressive treatment plan to ensure the kitten would have as sound vision as possible in the left eye; and a PETA veterinary assistant whisked the brown tabby home to foster care immediately following his surgery. Talk about a holy trinity.
With an apparent recollection of Jesus healing a blind man in Jericho, the one-eyed cat’s foster guardian decided to dub him Bartimaeus, or Barti. (Should you ever find yourself attending Bible trivia night, you’ll know who to invite.)
Now with one eye (and one “i”), Barti was quick to adapt to life as an indoor-only cat. His foster guardian reports that the now 6-month-old tween is kind of the perfect companion cat: He’s equally happy to curl up for meditation on his human’s lap or to attend a playful youth group with his feline foster friends. He’s had to return to PETA’s clinic for a veterinary recheck or two, and his foster guardian even reports that he’s quite keen on a car ride!
Barti has been neutered and fully vaccinated. While his left eye’s healing journey is a miracle akin to water being turned into wine, those interested in adopting Barti should be prepared for the possibility of needing to seek care from animal eye care specialists (as well as a general veterinarian).
PETA fieldworkers thank Jesus for Barti’s fondness for road trips, as chauffeuring the brown tabby to his adoptive home—anywhere along or near the East Coast—will be their cross to bear.
Gospel
We’re not into bearing false witness, so here’s the hard truth: Barti’s list of adopter hopefuls is getting longer than Psalm 119. (That’s the longest psalm, for all you bible trivia washouts.) So, if you think you’re the answer to Barti’s prayers, bless PETA with an e-mail over at [email protected].
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