Furry Tails: Abandoned Kitten's Story Goes Viral
Have you heard about Smurf?
He's a little kitten found abandoned and left to die in the San Jose area of California; and his story, which has gone viral over the last few days, is full of sadness but also a lot of hope.
KDKA sister station, KPIX in San Francisco, reports that little Smurf was found in a box with some food scraps and rags, a living thing throw away as garbage.
But it gets so much worse from there.
This sweet kitten was running a high fever, had been dyed a shade of bluish purple with a permanent fabric dye, and worst of all, had deep puncture wounds all over his body.
His veterinarians say someone let their dog use the defenseless kitten as a "living chew toy."
"We will never know what truly happened because obviously he can't tell us. You can see just little wounds all over," Dr. Julie Desai, of the Nine Lives Foundation, told KPIX. "There's obviously something that goes wrong with some people that they would be willing to hurt a baby."
Cruelty at its worst, the horrific things that happened to this poor kitten, and also letting a dog get so mean and dangerous that it would hurt another living thing.
But out of a terrible situation, there is hope.
An animal shelter took in Smurf, and now the Nine Lives Foundation is getting the little guy back on his feet. Sure, he's got a long road to recovery and may even require surgery, but he's got love now.
And that's the most important thing.
"Once he realized that we were the good guys and we were making him feel better, it's almost like he's forgotten what has happened to him in the past. They are way more forgiving than human beings," Michelle Cavin, a veterinary technician at the Nine Lives Shelter, told KPIX.
Once Smurf has recovered, he will go up for adoption to a good family in Redwood, California, where the shelter is located.
In the meantime, he's raising awareness about animal cruelty and pet adoption as the Nine Lives Foundation reported Friday on their Facebook page that hundreds of people are stopping by to visit him and bringing donations of food and other animal shelter necessities with them.
Sweet little Smurf, get well soon!
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Stay tuned animal lovers for more Furry Tails! You can follow me on Twitter at @HeatherLang24