Cassidy had a rough start to his life. We rescued his mother Lala when she was pregnant, placed her into a foster home and she promptly went missing after clawing through a window screen and escaping her foster home. After 10 days on the run, she was found 11 blocks away from where she went missing.

Lala had been hanging around the area for a few days, and had given birth August 1st. One baby was found deceased, and two other live babies were found but Lala wasn’t looking after them. A neighbour contacted someone they know who looks after orphaned kittens, and the two kittens were sent to an experienced foster mom. A fourth baby was breech and stuck coming out of poor Lala. Lala’s foster mom rushed over to where Lala was found and took her straight to the vet. The vet removed the breech baby, but sadly, the baby had already passed away.

That brings us to Cassidy. Cassidy and his little brother were doing very well in their foster home for the first three weeks. Then sadly, Cassidy’s brother passed away. He was eating, playing and being a normal kitten one moment, then went downhill very quickly and passed away in his foster home before the foster mom could even get him to the vet. Rest in peace wee kitten!

Now, (early September 2014) Cassidy is going through some completely different issues. His foster mom noticed that this little guy was showing signs of neurological deficits and at times he seemed to be blind. He was also occasionally limping and guarding his left hind leg. This weekend, Cassidy saw the vet and they discovered an abscess in his leg. Once the abscess was drained and the pressure relieved, the vet found the knee joint was damaged. Cassidy is unable to move the lower part of his leg and it dangles at an odd angle. X-rays showed that Cassidy’s left knee is dislocated and non-functional. The vet was unsure how this infection settled in to Cassidy’s leg, but it caused irreparable ligament damage.

Cassidy is currently on antibiotics and pain medications and he is booked for surgery on Tuesday morning to amputate his leg.

This poor little guy hasn’t even had his first set of vaccines yet and he has to lose his leg! We are hopeful that Cassidy will come through his surgery okay. We have loads of confidence in our vets, but surgery on a kitten who is only a month old is always risky.

Please send your well wishes and healing thoughts to Cassidy. We’ll keep you updated on how his surgery goes. You can see from this photo that he is still playful and happy…and from everything he’s been through since he was born, we know this little guy is a fighter.

UPDATE: September 3rd, 2014

We hate having to post sad news.

Little Cassidy didn’t make it through his surgery.

He passed away surrounded by all the vet clinic staff who tried everything they could to keep him alive. As it turned out, the infection had gone far beyond where it was first discovered, so even if we had waited until Cassidy was bigger to do the surgery to remove his leg, he likely wouldn’t have survived the infection that was moving quickly through his little body.

We want to thank the staff at the vet clinic where Cassidy was treated. We know you did your best for this little guy and we appreciate all your efforts. And thank you to Cassidy’s foster mom for everything she did for Lala’s two babies. It’s heartbreaking to lose a foster, and our hearts go out to her.

Rest in peace Cassidy. We’ll never forget your sweet little soul.