Meet Davie, the blind cat with a big heart

When our Ashburton team first received a call from a concerned member of the public about a cat that ‘appeared to have no eyes’, they wondered if this could be correct. They told the person to bring the cat in, and they were shocked to see this was in fact the case!

Ashburton Team Leader and Volunteer Coordinator Ashleigh told us what a surprise it was.

“It’s not often we meet cats like Davie. It’s common to see kittens and cats with weepy or infected eyes, but this poor guy didn’t have any eyes at all,” Ashleigh says.

Davie was in poor health too – he had a bad case of cat flu and Giardia. Even through his struggles, and without being able to see his rescuers, our team were heartened to see that he was trusting and friendly.

“He was the friendliest, smoochiest boy from day one!” says Ashleigh. “It was actually so hard to resist the face smooches that he was so desperate to give, but because he was so sick we could only give him pats with full PPE.”

It’s safe to say that Davie gained a lot of fans among our team.

After receiving initial treatment and plenty of love and care at our Ashburton Centre, Davie was able to build up his strength. In time, he was well enough to be transferred to our Christchurch Centre for surgery.

“His recovery was very much a joint effort between our Centres,” says Ashleigh. “He needed a large dental procedure, needed to be castrated, and had a full double enucleation. This meant they needed to remove any remaining pieces of tissue inside his eyes and then stitch them up, so they wouldn’t continue to become infected.”

With his surgeries complete, Davie was on the home stretch to his new life - and he spent some much-needed time in foster care to aid his recovery.

“He spent time in foster care with an amazing person,” says Ashleigh. “Apparently he loves newspapers, because he can hear them rustling and will go running over to try and play with it.

They said that he loves all of his toys, and gets most excited with zoomies from 4pm onwards! We are very grateful to his foster mum for providing him love and a safe space to recover - and the Christchurch SPCA team for completing his surgery and taking care of him post-op.”

After recovering in foster care, Davie was ready at long last to find a forever home. And our team was thrilled that it didn't take long to find one!

"We're so grateful that Davie has been adopted. He had a lot of hurdles to overcome, and with the help of the Centre teams, volunteers, and his foster home, he got the second chance at the life he deserved."