Phil Update: Cat with no eyelids (and his sidekick) found a home

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ADOPTED: Phil with his feline bestie, Vixen, pals since they were rescued from the streets (credit MSPCA-Angell)
ADOPTED: Phil with his feline bestie, Vixen, pals since they were rescued from the streets (credit MSPCA-Angell)

Phil and Vixen are heading home.

One month to the day after Dr. Martin Coster performed the surgery that saved his eyesighThe Gabby Dog logot, Phil the kitty has been adopted, according to Rob Halpin, spokesman for MSPCA-Angell.

[See original story by The Gabby Dog: Amazing Grace for Phil: Unusual surgery saves homeless kitten’s eyesight]

Phil the cat on the adoption floorPhil turned up in a Boston city animal shelter, where the MSPCA’s Alyssa Krieger spotted him and took charge of his case.  Born without upper eyelids, Phil could not blink and lubricate his eyes. He faced a bleak prognosis without surgery.

Krieger said Phil’s personality – as well as his eye condition – made him special. He was playful and obviously attached to another homeless cat, Vixen.

She decided Phil should be seen by a specialist at Angell, and ultimately, the pair should be adopted together.

Phil goes home 5
Pictured here is adoptive mom Sarah Vazirani along with Maxx (left), age 5 and Dia (right) age 4. Not pictured is Phil’s feline bestie, Vixen, who is still recovering from her spay and is conked out in the carrier. But the two cats are heading home together!

According to Halpin, Dr. Coster removed a snip of Phil’s lip and successfully reconstructed his missing eyelids.

Halpin said Dr. Coster snapped a picture of Phil yawning yesterday to show people he is not experiencing pain near the spot where his lip was cut.

“He’s doing OK in the yawning department,” Halpin said.

The Vazirani family, of Brookline, Mass., is adopting Phil and Vixen.


Have a tip or a story idea? E-mail Margo Ann Sullivan atTheGabbyDog@gmail.com. Follow @The_Gabby_Dog on Twitter.


Margo Ann Sullivan
Margo Ann Sullivan

Margo Ann Sullivan is a pet columnist who has written for ZooToo, and numerous publications in New York and in New England. She’s had pets all her life, starting with a rescue collie named Lollypop. The Gabby Dog column chases the news that helps pets and people. It also chronicles the adventures of Gabby, the peke-a-poo, and Asia, the tabby cat, and their many pals, hitting the high spots between Providence, RI, and Manchester, NH.

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