My name is Adam and along with my partner Ling, we have spent the last 4 years feeding and rescuing stray dogs and cats off the streets of China. Animal rescue is emotional but seeing the love and connection between stray animals, surviving the most difficult life together, is heartwarming. One of my encounters with a rescued kitten called Lychee (Mr Cheese), who survived against all odds, inspired me to create this website.
I want to begin by sharing Lychee’s story with you.
My journey with Lychee began unexpectedly when I spotted an adorable kitten beneath a small vehicle, aimlessly wandering in circles. It was clear that he needed help.
I took off my hoodie and wrapped him up, holding the back of his neck, just like a mother cat does to her kittens. It took a while to get to the vets but once there they did the usual tests to check for diseases while, with all the curiosity in the world the kitten explored his new surroundings. The vets thought he was walking around in circles because of a problem with his brain but a CT scan showed that it wasn’t that.
It didn’t take long for us to fall in love with Lychee, his playfulness and big glaring curious eyes. Our spare bedroom quickly became his home.
Between these challenging daily visits to the vets, he spent his time playing with us and exploring his new home all day and night. He learnt to pounce, climb up curtains and would show us affection rubbing his body and tail against us, purring deeply, and licking our hands.
Disaster struck
However, relief was short-lived. Lychee, who had quickly become a beloved part of our family with his playful antics and endearing curiosity, fell critically ill with Feline Panleukopenia Virus (FPV). Known for its low survival rates in kittens, the diagnosis was a devastating blow.
Lychee had a very low white blood cell count, which means he was weak and had little chance of fighting infection well. We took him to the best vets in the area and he was put straight on an IV drip. There is no cure or treatment for FPV, all you can do is provide fluids and try to control any symptoms as best as possible.
We stayed with Lychee day and night, carefully watching him, counting his breath to make sure they were in a normal range. His veins were thin and it was difficult to put an IV drip in, the vet used cardboard to try to protect the drip. Days passed, fevers came and went while ice packs melted to reduce them.
His stomach cried out, but he sat through it all, crouched with his paws tucked by his side, in a position cats adopt when in pain.
The fight for survival continues
It is said that if an animal makes it through the first 5 days of this disease there is a chance of survival. Eating is a sign that the disease might have passed its worse stage and after many days and lots of encouragement, Lychee began to eat a little bit.
It was a miracle that he was still here, but the fight was far from over. His digestive system has been hit hard and his red blood cells were dangerously low. For another week or more he was borderline for needing a blood transfusion, a risk we hoped we wouldn’t have to take.
To try and avoid it we sourced artificial blood from across the city and his red blood cell levels held stable, before, much to our relief and the incredible love, care and effort shown by the vets, they began to rise again.
Things were improving when, Lychee’s rectum split. FPV had weakened his digestive so much that is caused a split. We rushed him into surgery to try to repair it. Sitting waiting and watching the clock as time seemed to pass at a snails pace while he went through surgery.
Finally the vet carried Lychee out, sleepy, but still here. It took a while for him to fully come round, he was wobbly and shaking a lot. Going through surgery in such a weak condition isn’t easy.
Surgery had been a success but soon became a failure. There hadn’t been much flesh to connect together, and it came apart again. The only option was to leave the rectum split into two holes, clean the wound often and hope that the hole would close up naturally.
Home at last
Many tubes of saline solution and cotton buds were used day after day. A few weeks later we were finally able to bring Lychee home after a month living in the vets. His wound hadn’t closed up so we learnt how to clean it and for the next month we cleaned it many times each day until it closed.
It’s hard to put into words the story of Lychee, the severity of his disease and the way he handled and survived the impossible. I believe to this day that he made it out of there because of his love for life and will to live.
Lychee is curious about everything and It was clear how much he wanted to live and sometimes, the sheer desire to live makes all the difference in a battle against the odds.
Lychee’s journey reminded me that hope is never lost, and resilience can be found in the smallest of creatures. It has taught me to face life’s challenges with the same determination and never give up, no matter how insurmountable the odds may seem.
This wasn’t the only difficulty Lychee faced, there have been more since and he still fights chronic bronchitis to this day. I’ll tell you more about him in future emails but if you’d like to see his story in video form, here is a link to the first video in a series of videos we made about Lychee the kitten.