KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Kayla Yarbrough, the executive director at the Wild Whiskers rescue, says a four-month-old kitten named Phoenix is full of spunk and loves to cuddle. But Phoenix, who has gained a following of concerned animal lovers on social media, is now best-known as a survivor.
"There was a family Saturday night. They had a bad house fire. It started in their garage. One of their dogs alerted them to it and they opened the garage to find that one of their vehicles had caught on fire. So the family and all four of their dogs were able to get out safely," Yarbrough said of the fire, which happened in the Grand Rapids area.
"However, they had a barn cat who had a litter of kittens, and they resided in the garage, so they were not able to get the cats out of the garage in time. Unfortunately, their entire home is just destroyed. There's really not much left of it from the pictures that I've seen. I was contacted because the neighbors went out to search for the cats in hopes that they'd be able to find all of them. They found little Phoenix first. She was in pretty rough shape."
Rough shape may be an understatement when describing how badly Phoenix was burnt in the fire. Yarbrough took Phoenix to the Animal Emergency and Specialty Hospital of Byron Center. The veterinarians there told Yarbrough the cat's injuries were "the worst burn injuries they'd ever seen on an animal."
"I made a decision to keep her there overnight and give her a chance, because she really is just a fighter, and I really didn't want to take that away from her," said Yarbrough, who posted the story on the Wild Whiskers Facebook page in hopes that donors would help cover the overnight stay. Hundreds of people reacted to and shared the story.
"I was overwhelmed with the amount of support that we received for Phoenix and the emergency vet bills, which ended up being just under $3,000, they were paid by the community with their donations."
Phoenix is now in the care of Wild Whiskers. She has a visit with the rescue's primary care veterinarian on Thursday, and Yarbrough is hopeful that Phoenix will recover.
"I think she's going to be okay. I think the biggest hurdle is going to be battling infection," Yarbrough said.
"Some of the injuries on the skin, the burns, are starting to show. She's just kind of bathed in SSD cream right now, which is a topical antibiotic cream. It's going to be a long road to recovery, but I think it's going to be fine. I'm hoping her eyes were not too affected by it. That was a big concern. Her paw pads though, the skin is completely sloughed off them. That's another big concern. She's having trouble walking around."
If you'd like to help Wild Whiskers, there is a wildlife fundraiser sale happening from Friday, July 26th to Sunday, July 28th at 4211 Beechmount Avenue in Portage. There will be "thousands of garage sale items," coffee and donuts, baked goods, artisan goods, and an instant raffle.
The sale will benefit not only Wild Whiskers, but also All Creatures Deserving, which is a Portage-based nonprofit that works with small mammals and songbirds. Yarbrough said in previous years, Wild Whiskers has made enough money through the sale to feed their animals for an entire year.