Dutchess spent the first 2 weeks of her life in a dirty crate. That crate was in a roach infested motel room that was also home to 16 other cats and kittens of various ages. When the cats arrived at the Animal Rescue Center, the pungent smell of urine and feces was overpowering, the roaches that were crawling not only out of the crates, but also the fur of the cats was unbelivable. 

Dutchtess weighed less than half a pound, was covered in fleas and already sick with an upper respitory infection when she arrived. Her eyes should have been open by then, but were unable to due to the heavy crust that covered them.  Dutchess' uphill battle was just beginning.  She was started on antibiotics and eye meds, but being so young and in such poor condition, the odds were already stacked against her.  The one good thing she had going for her at that time was a very doting mama named Rose who kept a close and watchful eye over her little one.  

Dutchess was making small improvement with the URI, but when her eyes began to clear up, it was apparent that she had some issues with her vision.  One eye was a bit cloudy, the other was covered almost entirely by the third eyelid. Eye ointments were not doing much.  Eventually her left eye got a bit better, but the right  eye started to shrivel up and clearly she could not see out of it. That didn't slow her down at all though!  Her playful personality started to come through and she started to enjoy romping around with her sibling.  I figured one eye was better than none and everything looked to be headed in the right direction.  Until it wasn't.

One day it was noticed that Dutchess' right front leg was very swollen and she was non weight bearing.  A staffer I immediately took her over to the BVSPCA Animal Health Center in Georgetown, where xrays ruled out a fracture.  Plan was to treat as a soft tissue injury. After a few days of strict confinement, pain meds and more antibiotics, the swelling started to go down. Great! Finally making some progress in the right direction!  Well, we were wrong again. Dutchess' little wrist joint now started to swell, she was very lethargic and had a fever of almost 105.   Another emergency trip to the vet followed up by a sedated joint tap revealed another infection.  More meds, more confinement and more waiting...A few days later the joint had doubled in size overnight, high fever spiked again and she was in alot of pain.  I rushed her back to the clinic already knowing that the outcome probably wasn't going to be good.  She was just barely 2 months old, not even 2 pounds and had already endured so much in her short little life. A badly infected joint was almost certainly a death sentence for a kitten as small as she was. I left her in the trusting hands of the vet team, and went back to the ARC to wait for any news.  Dr. Landon decided that it was worth trying to go ahead and amputate the leg.  We knew it was a 50/50 shot.  Her age and size were definitley not ideal for amputation surgery due to the amount of blood loss that can occur so it was very possible she would not even make it off the surgery table.  Well, lo an behold, she pulled through!  I went first thing the next morning to pick her up and bring her home to foster her through the recovery period. Dutchess needed to wear a cone to prevent her from licking the incision, but there was not one small enough so I cut off the bottom of a paper cup which worked as a collar.  Perfect!   Less than a day later she was a whole new kitten.  Full of energy, spunk and sass, Dutchess was proving that she didn't need 4 legs, 3 were just fine!  Once again I sighed with relief because clearly things were getting better for her now.  Well, you guessed it, I was  wrong again.

Fast forward one week.  That's when I came home from work on Sunday and saw that her previously well healing incision site had now blown up into a huge abcess in a matter of a few hours.  She stopped eating, got lethargic and fever was up to almost 105...again.  A vet check was set for the next morning, I put alcohol on her paw pads to try and cool her down, applied warm compress' to the abcess and set my alarm to get up and check her temperature throughout the night.  By morning her temp was still high and the abcess was even bigger.  Dr. Landon was able to drain the infection, which was a massive amount for such a small kitten by the way, and within a couple hours her fever had come down.  More antibiotics were added and once again we played the wait and see game.  Well, Dutchess finally won the game and immediately started to thrive better than ever!  If I hadn't seen firsthand everything she went through, I would never have believed she had been so sick and close to death more than once. Dutchess extensive medical records read like a chapter book and she's not even 3 months old.

I am grateful to be Dutchess' foster mom.  Fostering truly does save lives and Dutchess proves that. Her resilience and will to live has been awe inspiring. I'm grateful to Dr. Landon and her team for doing whatever it took to save her, even when the outlook was grim.   I'm grateful to Brandywine Valley SPCA for giving animals like Dutchess their best shot at a good future. I'm grateful for everyone who selflessly donates to help the animals like Dutchess who may not have a chance otherwise. 

 It's  hard to believe that in a few short weeks it will be time to find her the furever family she so deserves.  Bark on the Boards is such an amazing event and I want to raise as much money as I can to help even more animals get the chances they deserve.  No amount is too small and all are appreciated more than you  know.  I have a set a goal of $500, but would love to be able to keep setting it higher!  Thank you all for taking the time to read the story of this amazing little tri-pod, one eyed kitten and her unwavering will to survive whatever was thrown at her.  #BarkOnTheBoards #DonateforDutchess