Blind kitten abandoned in box was ‘so confused.’ Then her luck turned around
A blind kitten abandoned in a box was “so confused” — then her luck took a turn for the better.
After being adopted and then returned to a South Carolina shelter, Mabel the “loving” cat now has another new home.
“Our team was so excited that there was so much interest in her,” a Greenville Humane Society spokesperson told McClatchy News in an Aug. 20 email. “She is the absolute sweetest girl and even with her disability, loved meeting new people and other cats. She is truly ready to live her best life!”
Mabel’s journey at the humane society started months earlier, when a worker found her with her siblings. Mabel — whose name was Elena at the time — was the “runt of the litter” and arrived at the shelter “absolutely terrified.”
“Her unfamiliarity of her current surroundings paired with her blindness has made her miserable — she’s always in fight or flight mode,” the shelter wrote Jan. 4 in a Facebook post. “She hisses when she hears a noise. She doesn’t want to be pet. She’s just so, so scared.”
Soon after the shelter shared that online post, the kitten got a new owner. But the situation didn’t last.
“Months went by and in late July, a box was left on our front steps,” the humane society wrote Aug. 19 on social media. “It was Elena. We don’t know why she was brought back to us. Why she was left. She was so confused.”
After the kitten returned to the shelter, workers also learned that she had hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder that causes her to be wobbly. The 10-month-old cat will need to be on medication for her whole life.
“She couldn’t catch a break, and it broke our hearts to see her so confused and wondering what was next,” the shelter wrote. “We renamed her Mabel, because she’s no longer that scared, blind baby we used to know.”
Mabel started to cuddle and bond with other cats as she waited for a home.
“She has come so far since we last saw her as a baby,” the shelter wrote. “She is so confident and loving.”
Then, hours after the shelter posted Mabel’s story on Aug. 19, it shared the heartwarming update that she was adopted. Several social media users chimed in to celebrate the good news.
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 8:55 AM with the headline "Blind kitten abandoned in box was ‘so confused.’ Then her luck turned around."
