Truffle (Part 1 of 2)
Sunday, November 13, 2011
By: Elizabeth Hilpipre

A cat who needed a major surgery

“Truffle” came to NHS at the end of June as a small stray kitten. On her initial examination, the veterinarians noticed that she didn’t have upper eyelids, a condition known as eyelid agenesis, or eyelid coloboma. The lack of eyelids meant that poor little Truffle couldn’t keep her eyebrow fur out of her eyes, which caused lots of eye irritation (goopy eyes, squinting, etc).

Truffle wasn’t big enough for surgery yet, so she was introduced to another group of kittens her age (since she didn’t have any siblings of her own to keep her company), and the whole bunch went to stay with a loving foster family. After a month of growing and having her little eyes lubricated with special eye ointment everyday, Truffle was finally big enough for her first surgery. She was spayed and had a special reconstructive surgery (never attempted at NHS before), which provided her a set of false eyelids! Truffle went back to her foster family while she healed, where she continued to grow in both size and personality.

To Be Continued in the next hour.

P.S. Sorry for no photos of Truffle's we accidently let the photos at the shelter on a different computer.  It's a bummer we know!