Thank you to all the wonderful people that donated to Franny's surgery fund. Thanks also to the wonderful Veterinary Ophthalmologist who performed the astounding, delicate, complex and state of the art surgery.  Thank you, to the anonymous donator of $800 that gave the matching fund that paid for 1/2 of the $1,600 total.

As Frannys' foster, I was glad I could arrange to be home for the month of Franny's recovery because the aftercare was more time consuming, intensive and nerve wracking than I had imagined it would be. She came home the day of the surgery with a large cone on her head and her dear sweet face shaved and full of neat little fragile stitches. The great worry was that the graft that rebuilt her eyelid wouldn't hold and could she be kept from touching or bumping her repaired eye so that it would have chance to heal.  Being extremely careful not to disturb the stitches or any tissues that were healing I applied lubricating antibiotic eye meds twice daily. She was given warm wet compresses 2 to 4 times a day as well as oral pain killers and oral antibiotics twice a day. I also gave her nutritional supplements in her food. Franny was very patient through it all, as if she knew we were doing our very best to help her.

Today Franny has a new and wonderful functioning eyelid that closes completely. Her damaged blind eye that had become uncomfortable is gone and she is left with a permanent endearing wink. She is pain free and no longer in need of any eye meds. The outcome of the surgery feels like a miracle. It took the talent of the surgeons' steady loving hands to make this miracle come true. Like so many miracles, it took many kind people's hearts and minds, talents and time, good thoughts, and sometimes money to make it happen.

I have been fostering Frannie about a year now. Longer than any of my 236 fosters that preceded her. Most fosters live with me for a month sometimes two before they are placed into good homes. The surgeon felt it imperative to wait until Franny was fully grown before performing the surgery. I felt I needed to get Franny through her surgery safely before I adopted her out. I'm glad I did.

She is a dear petite kitty with such a love for life who in her heart believes she is running our household. Our two big kind mutty dogs love and respect her and let her nudge them over in their dog beds to make room for her at nap time. Our 3 other cats have accepted her as one of our clan and each one has little games they play with her. Franny is completely familiar with our home and the distance between the chairs and tables and window seat, so she compensates for her lack of depth perception well.

A kind couple adopted Franny's adorable brother Mack as a buddy playmate to their young lively male cat. They also asked to adopt Franny after her surgery. I said yes and then I suffered over whether it would be best for Franny to have two busy and rambunctious boy kitties with perfect vision as her playmates and kitty family. I finally decided it would be too overwhelming for her. This wonderful couple were very disappointed but understood my concerns and they still generously donated a large portion of the money that paid for Frannys' surgery.

After all she's been through, I wring my hands at the thought of Franny having to make adjustments in a new environment and establishing a new pecking order with a new family. It's true no one else has come forward to adopt Franny and that's OK because frankly, I believe my husband and I, without planing to, have fallen too much in love with her to let her go......

~Lucinda

Franny ~ for people new to the story~

Franny was about 3 1/2 weeks old when she and her brother (Mack) were found huddled in a shed on one of those coldest winter days last December. It was obvious, after carefully soaking her crusted eyes open with a warm was cloth, that she had serious eye problems. Franny's right eye was  badly damaged and her left eye had a deformed lid that wouldn't completely close to cover her eye and the hair grew into the eyeball causing much irritation.

I took her to a veterinary ophthalmologist and got the bad news that the right eye is was so badly damaged that it needed to be removed and though she can see with her left eye the lid is badly deformed and needed to be reconstructed with a skin graft. These surgeries would cost $1,600.00! The doctor said it would be best to wait until Franny had finished growing. The eight months before her surgery I applied lubricating eye medication twice a day. A kind person said they would pay $800.00 of the bill if Project Purr could come up with the other $800.00 in donations. We put out a plea on the Project Purr website and also on Craigslist telling Franny's story and asking for monetary help from web visitors and our supporters.

Many people stepped forward and contributed!
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!!