Moving forward!

We have named the kitten Brent, after our great friend Brent of the Remy Homestead.  Brent always talks a mean game about cats and how he doesn't care for them, but under his 6' 4" tough exterior is a marshmallow of a person, usually kept in line by his wife Christie.

On Friday night as I was at the vet's office, I called Christie to bring me a phone charger because my phone charge was at 10% and I was on call for the hospital.  Christie promised me she would be right over and with the phone charger, she brought Brent.  They visited me and I showed them the lifeless kitten that was laying there, and Brent said in a very joking way:  "For a lot less money I could get you a cat with no maggots and already litter box trained!"  Christie promptly elbowed him in the gut and told him to shut up, and I was laughing at the two of them when I realized I had never had an animal named Brent.  It only seemed fitting that I would name a cat after him.  (Besides, I could only hope that this kitty would turn out to be a big, strapping man of a cat!)

Brent the kitten is doing good and is on the mend.  We brought him home last night from the animal clinic, and have been medicating him and nursing him along.  The biggest challenge at this point is his groin/rectum/penis area.  This was where the maggots did the most damage, eating away at his flesh.  If you can imagine, a kitten that only weighs a few ounces has a very small genital region.  The sheath of his penis is severed horizontally on both sides, and if it doesn't heal then he will have to have a surgery to reconstruct it. 

If the damage actually affects his penis then there is another surgery, and I will be honest I won't put him through that.  In that surgery you actually re-route the urethra and remove the penis making him pee like a female cat.  He is so small, it would be like micro surgery, and the veterinarian isn't sure if she could perform that surgery on a patient his size.  I'm not sure if I could afford that surgery either....

Looking on the positive side of things though, this is a picture of Brent this morning.  We are keeping him in a dog kennel with his litter box, food, water, and he has a stuffed friend for support.  He is "making biscuits", meowing, and eating like a horse!  The best part though?!  I got up this morning to urine and feces in his litter box (Otherwise known as a disposable pie pan...), so we know that up to this point at least all of his parts are working!  Please say a prayer that this will continue.  If his "boy parts" continue to work, he will most likely live.  I keep reminding myself, that if he has to go, at least he will be humanely euthanized and he will have known he was loved, by me and many of you too!