A quest for eyelids
Published 9:30 pm Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Echo the domestic shorthair might not hail from a very exotic breed, but he’s not your average kitten.
![Desiree Page of the Animal Clinic of Eagle Harbor holds Echo, a kitten born with malformed eyelids. The clinic’s Furr Foundation is raising money to fix the feline, and is also trying to find him a forever home.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/05/IMG_5513.jpg)
Desiree Page of the Animal Clinic of Eagle Harbor holds Echo, a kitten born with malformed eyelids. The clinic’s Furr Foundation is raising money to fix the feline, and is also trying to find him a forever home.
He was born with malformed eyelids.
Officially called eyelid agenesis, the congenital defect is very rare in dogs, but is seen from time to time in cats.
Suffolk Animal Control, who ended up with him, has passed Echo on to the Animal Clinic of Eagle Harbor.
Desiree Page, a veterinary assistant there, said that as well as performing spaying and neutering procedures, the Carrollton clinic also takes on a lot of the city facility’s severe rescue cases.
“Cats mainly,” she said. “They brought him (Echo) to us in the hopes that we would take him and do what he needs” — and find him a forever home.
Page estimates Echo is six or seven weeks old. And he isn’t too bothered by his condition, which makes his eyes dry and requires drops.
“He gets on great with other cats,” Page said. “He has a very spunky little personality. … I think it would be quite annoying to have dry eyes, but I guess he doesn’t know it any other way.”
To pay for whatever treatment a specialist says he needs, Echo will be a beneficiary of the Furr Foundation, which clinic staff established after an orange tomcat named Funyun was turned over to the clinic near the end of 2010.
A toddler had stepped on Funyun, injuring his spine and legs, and clinic staff mobilized to raise money for surgery and care.
Sadly, Funyun has since died; but the fund, whose board Page sits on, continues helping other special animals.
The goal for a gofundme.com campaign for Echo is $2,000. It can be found here.
Page said they should have a better idea of the treatment Echo will need, and the cost, after a consultation with a specialist on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the grand total for the campaign stood at only $125. But Page and her colleagues might take heart from the larger amounts raised so far by other active, more-advanced gofundme campaigns for felines without eyelids, including $2,045 for “Help Fund Persephone’s New Eyelids,” in Jeannette, Pa.
“Apparently there’s a few different ways to repair his situation,” said Page, who is hopeful that Echo will be able to live a more normal life.
Among the possible symptoms and complications of eyelid agenesis are ulcers, tear abnormalities and painful eyes. Fixing severe cases can require grafting skin from the lower lid to the upper lid.
Page encourages anyone who wants to learn about the results of Echo’s upcoming consultation to check the foundation’s Facebook page after Thursday.
Anyone who wants to apply to adopt Echo can email furrfoundation@gmail.com.