The life of Funyun the cat took a horrible turn early on. At just two months of age, the kitten suffered terrible injuries to its legs when a toddler stepped on it. As bad as that injury was, however, it was most certainly an accident.

What happened next, though, was intentional. Instead of seeking veterinary treatment, the owner put the suffering animal in a garage and left it there. Eight months later, he finally agreed to turn the cat over for treatment. By that time, Funyun would never be able to use his legs again.

But at that point, the poor kitten’s fortune changed. That’s when the caring staff of the Animal Clinic at Eagle Harbor got involved and decided to see if the cat’s life could be saved. Instead of putting the crippled animal to sleep, which would have been an obvious and easy answer to its plight, staff members set about to seeing how they could give him the highest quality of life possible.

Today, Funyun has a set of custom-made off-road wheels strapped to the rear half of his body. Pulling himself along with his front legs, he motors all over the veterinary office, and he even gets outside when visiting the home of one of the clinic’s staff members. And he’s earned a reputation for being sneaky, which might have left readers of his story in Sunday’s paper wondering how hard it would be to fix Funyun’s wheels so they squeak, thereby removing any silent advantage he might have on other animals.

There’s a reason the point about sneakiness was so important to Funyun’s story: It showed that he has developed a unique personality in the year or so since staff members at the veterinary office in Carrollton saved his life and dedicated a portion of their own lives to giving him a second chance.

That such a personality could have emerged after the months of agony he must have endured is an incredible testament to Funyun’s resilience and to the love he has been shown in his new home. It’s also a condemnation of the original owner’s heinous decision to let the poor cat suffer when he was first injured.

We’ll never understand how people can abuse animals, and treating a pet injured in one’s own home with such callousness can only be described as abusive. Sadly, though, such evil exists in our world. But we can thank God there are truly good people like the ones at the Animal Clinic at Eagle Harbor to counter such evil.

The Funyuns of the world need all the friends they can get.