BEATING THE ODDS, ONE PAW AT A TIME: Feline survived a brutal kick; now she needs a home (PHOTOS)

For Angel, life hasn’t been easy. She’s been abandoned, lived through two life-threatening pregnancies, survived surgery to remove her diaphragm from her lungs after a violent attack — and she is not even 2-years-old.

Angel is a tabby, calico mix and is being nursed back to health at the Cat Clinic here in Destin. Her treatment is largely thanks to the unyielding love and support from self-appointed animal rescuer Terry Stitt.

“I just couldn’t stand to let an animal get put down when it had such a will to live,” said Stitt.

Angel’s story begins in the small town of Jay just North of Milton. A family out there gave Stitt a call when Angel, then unnamed, showed up on their porch. The family fed her for a bit but really couldn’t afford to keep her once she got pregnant. So they called on Stitt to step in. Stitt lives just over the bridge in Freeport and couldn’t get Angel right away. In the meantime, Angel managed to get pregnant again and suffered severe injuries to her liver and lungs from a potentially lethal kick.

The kicker is unknown and so far there are no suspects. 

Angel was on the edge of death, pregnant with octuplets and suffering from the kick “that sent her flying,” Stitt said. “It was labor just for her to breathe.”

She made dozens of phone calls urging the family to take Angel to the vet on her dime. Vets recommended that Angel be put down after she gave birth, but Stitt never gave up. Angel gave birth — three of eight survived — and Stitt finally met the family halfway between her home and Milton to pick up the miracle cat. She subsequently named her Angel.

It’s been about three weeks since Angel arrived at the Cat Clinic in Destin, and after $3,000 and one big surgery later, she is doing great.

While Stitt would love to keep Angel, she is looking for someone to take her in as she already takes care of 23 cats at home. Of the almost two-dozen, only five are hers. She fosters the remaining 18, giving them lots of love while looking for homes.

“Animals have always had a soft place in my heart,” Stitt said. “I don’t know if God blessed me or cursed me.”

If the animal has the will to live, she will do anything she can to help it.

“One time I fixed a lizard’s intestine with a pair of chopsticks and kept it in a jar until it was strong enough to be released back into the wild,” Stitt recalled. “I could write a book on all my crazy rescue stories!”

She is hoping to eventually have her self-employed operation filed as a non-profit. She is looking to build a cat house on her property where she can sell animal lover products — “trinkets, cat toys, whatever” — to help raise money for the cause she holds so close to her heart.

Hopefully, she’ll be able to save more cats in need like Angel. But for now, the chore of changing seven litter boxes a day is all she can take on. 

If you’re interested in adopting Angel you can reach Terry Stitt on her cell phone 850-835-1781 or by e-mail at johnterry1@cox.net

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Here is a letter from Terry Stitt further explaining Angel's struggles:

I have a kitty that is only a year or so and has had two litters of kittens already — a baby having babies!

I got a call from Jay, Florida, from a lady who had a young kitty dumped on her property that soon afterward got pregnant and had kittens.

They stayed in a barn for the most part. But one day a coyote got ahold of one of the five kittens and ripped off its face! The lady called me in hopes that I would collect the babies and find them homes. It took two trips up there, but I made it and found homes for the remaining four.

I suggested they get help to have the mom fixed. But they were “too busy!"

Now months later, I find out that the mom was kicked so hard that her liver was pushed into her diaphragm and in turn up into her lungs making it painful and difficult for her to breathe or do anything for that matter!

She even had trouble finding a position to sleep in where she could still breathe. In the meantime, miraculous as it may seem, she got pregnant. And no the people did not do anything about her condition because they said they could not afford it.

Well, long story short, I got involved and said I would pay for the mom to get checked out at the vet. She was sent home with bad news indicating that she may not make it but nothing could be done till she went into labor.

Soon afterward, the mom had three kittens and was brought to the emergency referral vet in Pensacola. 

Now mama was looking bad, and the emergency vet spoke with me several times since I was paying the bill. They tried to convince me that mama needed to be put down. We spoke in length about her condition and the cost of a C-section, getting her fixed and taking care of her injury.

Her chances of survival were slim, but I could tell by answers to questions I asked that mama was strong and had a very strong will to live, which is half the battle. She went through hell, and eventually lost the rest of her kittens — 5 in all — but she managed to survive!

Truly a miracle! The vets told me point blank that they saw no need to go so far and just to put her down, but my gut told me differently. Now mama is at the Cat Clinic in Destin and we named her Angel, because I know an Angel was with her through her miraculous recovery. She still needs time to rest and chill out, but doc gives her a good report card!

She is a small tabby with some white on her chest and paws and is extremely sweet.

If you know of anyone who would foster her till she is running around again!! And of course, if a special family/ person is willing to adopt Angel and give lots of loving and good home, all the more better! 

 Thanks, Terry 850-218-9361 or 850-835-1781