Meet Gumbo! He is a very sweet 3-month-old kitten who turned up on a random Tuesday evening under our back porch.

After an hour and a half of difficult negotiation (bribing with the smelliest wet food I could find), we were able to bring him in and start trying to get him healthy and cleaned up so he could find a good forever home.

We're not sure where he came from, but he'd been outside on his own for awhile. He had a LOT going on for such a little guy - fleas, conjunctivitis, and apparently ALL the parasites. But he took his treatments like an absolute champ and really came out of his shell, going from shy and spicy to a happy, goofy goober with aspirations of becoming a professional biscuit maker.

After his initial eye treatment, we noticed he was still squinting a lot, and he had very dark eyes - we named him too well, apparently (that's a Gambit reference, in case that wasn't clear!). During his full exam, the vet was able to determine that Gumbo has agenesis of the eyelids - an uncommon birth defect meaning he never formed his upper eyelids fully. Because of this, he is missing ~75% of his upper eyelids, and his eyes are not protected from dirt, debris, even his own eyelashes and are constantly being irritated, and he is unable to completely close his eyes.

The constant irritation is causing his eyes to form tissue over his corneas, which is what gives him his dark eyes. We are doing our best to supplement with eye drops, but it's not a substitute for actual protection. Without his full eyelids, he's constantly experiencing irritation and discomfort. If left unchecked, eventually that tissue will continue to grow across his eyes and he will lose his vision.

Here's where y'all can help little Gumbo out - We were referred to the fantastic ophthalmology specialist team at the Texas A&M Small Animal Hospital through their veterinary school. Working with them, we've determined the best chance Gumbo has for living a full and happy life and preserving his vision is to perform surgery to reconstruct the missing areas of his eyelids and treat the affected cornea to restore the area with the scar tissue.

This procedure has a great success rate and the team is confident this is the best option for him and he will be able to have a full and happy life. But as you can imagine, it is as expensive as you'd expect an involved eye surgery on a tiny kitten to be. We have pet insurance in place for Gumbo, but as this is related to a birth defect, it isn't covered.

All money raised will go directly to funding his surgery and supporting his aftercare and recovery (expected to take 3-4 weeks). If there are any overages after the final bill is settled, they will be donated to a Six Kittens Rescue here in College Station

Gumbo is a sweet and curious little guy, and we can already see how much better he's feeling since coming in from under the porch. We want to give him the best chance at a normal life where he can see clearly and without pain. Please consider donating to support our efforts to give him that chance.