Kitten born without eyelids faces death sentence (From Surrey Comet)

Kitten born without eyelids faces death sentence

7:50am Wednesday 19th November 2008

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A kitten born without eyelids may have to be put down if its owners cannot raise enough money for pioneering treatment.

Danny, a three-month-old shorthaired tabby cat, was born with no top eyelids - a rare condition which leaves him with hair in his eyes, causing him constant pain and discomfort.

His Battersea owners are trying to raise £3,000 to pay for an operation but if they do not raise the cash Danny might have to be put to sleep.

The stray was rescued by a woman in Ireland and brought to the Wakehurst Road home of Victoria and Joseph Stantejsky - who have already re-homed 175 cats this year.

Mr Stantejsky, who travels with his wife to Ireland up to six times a year to rescue cats, said: “They don’t re-home cats in Ireland and when we got him home we realised Danny had a problem.

“You know what it is like when you have one hair in your eye so you can imagine how much pain he is in.

“He is a lovely boy and plays with other cats but you can see it affects him.

“The options are he has an operation, we take both his eyes out, or he is put down.”

The couple took Danny to a specialist in Surrey who said she could perform the operation, which would involve grafting skin to the top of his eyes to act as eyelids, for £1,400.

But Danny can’t have the operation until he is six-months-old, and until then needs to be sedated to have the hair around his eyes plucked using freezing technology.

That treatment costs up to £400 each time and his condition means Danny requires costly eyedrops.

Streatham Hill Surgery vet, Dane Walker, explained the stray had a rare condition.

“I have been practicing for nine years and I haven’t seen this before. It is very specialist treatment and the operation is quite technical, but his prognosis is reasonable, we are all waiting for the next move.”

Mrs Stantejsky, a teacher, said the cat was a playful creature who enjoyed human contact.

She said: “He’s very emotionally responsive. He purrs all the time and, but for his eyelids, he would be fine. We would like to help him if at all possible.

“He plays with the other kittens but you can see that he is depressed. We hope we will be able to help him.”

Anyone who wants to help can contact the couple by email at animalrescue@hotmail.co.uk.

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