By Michelle Colesanti

CatCalllogoDora is a sweet kitten who has had a rough start. She and her sister, Bobbi, both now around four months old, were found as strays near a Home Depot store garden center.

Dora has a medical condition called Trichiasis, where the eyelashes of one eye grow in toward the eye instead of out, causing irritation and discomfort. This painful condition can lead to further complications including vision impairment, and she will need surgery to remove the lashes and correct the problem. Surgery will cost around $300.

Dora was rescued by Cat Call, which is a 501(c) (3) non-profit, all volunteer rescue group that has been helping rescue and foster cats and kittens in the Brandon area for about 12 years. Cat Call volunteers are looking to the community to raise funds for her operation.

“We are hoping members of the community would be interested in helping out this little angel by making a tax deductible donation to her surgery fund,” said Jaime Donohoe, who is a Cat Call volunteer.

Donohoe said, “Dora is calm kitten, who just wants to snuggle and purr.”

She is also available for adoption, and is looking for a loving home to call her own. She is currently rotating between a foster home and the Adoption Center at the Brandon Petsmart on Causeway Blvd.

Although staffed totally by volunteers, the rescue does not have its own shelter or building, but the cats and kittens are fostered in local homes and adoption centers set up in two local Brandon Petsmarts, located at 11331 Causeway Blvd. and 1051 Brandon Blvd. W.

The animals that Cat Call has available to adopt only go to carefully screened homes. Volunteers are at the adoption centers in both stores on Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Cat Call believes in TNR, which is to trap unaltered cats, spay/neuter them and release back into their familiar environment, but they try to rescue as many local strays as possible. It is kitten season and the current foster homes are bulging at the seam. More families willing to foster would be welcomed so animals can avoid ending up in Animal Services.

The vet bills are high and Cat Call is always grateful for monetary donations. Food and litter donations are always appreciated too. Finding families to foster the cats and kittens is currently the greatest need. To learn more information on donating, helping with Dora’s surgery, cat adoptions or to find out about fostering, e-mail catcallfl@gmail.com or visit catcall.rescuegroups.org.

Previous articleT.A.M.P.A. Readies For 7th Annual Run For The Fallen
Next articleResidents Attend Meet And Greet Session With New Development Services Director
Michelle Colesanti
Michelle has been with the Osprey Observer for almost nine years, and her current position is Assignment Editor. She resides in Bloomingdale with her husband Phil, two sons, Philip and Matthew, and Tigger the cat.