Lucky the pirate

Lucky the Pirate's sibling

I don't even know how to tell the following story especially since I still don't know its ending but I'll give it a go anyway. About ten days ago I noticed a mama cat with two kucuk bebek kedi ( little kittens) sleeping in a small grave yard that is by the mosque in my street. I couldn't reach them but I started leaving a little food through the wire.  Then I noticed that the little black one had a badly injured eye. Every day it got worse but I could never catch it  as these were true street babies who had never been touched by humans. I even went to the Eczane ( pharmacy) to buy special kedi ointment and talked with Kirim on how best to treat it. On Friday I finally managed to grab the baby (much to its great anger and fear) and one shredded hand later I brought it home to dress its eye. I could see on closer inspection though that this eye was well past drops as the swelling was now almost as big as the side of its tiny head.  I knew I would have to either take it to the vet or give it back to its mother but I simply couldn't leave it to suffer such a terrible infection so I took it ( swearing in a  shoe box) to my local vet. As soon as the vet saw the kitten he said she would have to lose  her eye ( for my pirate is a laydee, I discovered) if  she was to have any chance at life.  He was very nice and explained that plenty of street cats had good lives even with one eye and that it was fortunate I had decided to bring her in. Then he hit me with the cost of the operation and hospital stay and even though I knew I  really didn't have the money to spare I would have to pay it anyway. In between eye operations and my own health insurance dramas, Turkey has been a very costly experience for me. But I knew the moment I decided to pick up the baby our fates were entwined. The vet smiled when  I said yes ( not in a money bags way but more in a this-is-the-right-thing-to-do ) and my little one-eyed friend just swore and snarled.  They asked me to give her a name so I called her Lucky ( although D later suggested The Pirate). I joked that maybe she should have been called Unlucky but the vet said Oh no she is lucky.
That was last Friday. Today I went to visit Lucky at hospital. Her eye has gone and she has bright blue stitches across her eye lids. She is such a tiny thing it seems to take up all her face. She swore at me and hissed so I knew it was her. I haven't got any pictures of her yet. The only ones I have are of her mother and sibling but I figure I should wait until she is splendid once again. No one likes mugshots when they're sick.

mama and sibling

 I don't know what will happen next with Lucky. My flatmate barely tolerates Three-Paw so I can't see One-eye becoming a permanent fixture but these decisions can be made later. In the meantime I have decided to get mama and the other kitten used to being fed in a certain place so that when Lucky is better perhaps they will welcome her back. I really don't know what I will do but whatever it is I am sure it will be the right thing in the end. I know how much her mama would love to see her again. She is such a good protective mama.
I wish I was rich at times like this. I wish I could help all the cats of Cihangir and the people who help them too. For they are not rich people who help these cats,  just kind and generous-hearted souls.

So let's just keep our front paws crossed ( unless you're Three-paw of course) that Lucky grows strong and well in hospital and that I can find the right way for her.