I first met Moustachia (pronounced moo-stash-ee-a) in a backyard. She was in a large cage and nursing five tiny week-old kittens. I had been called because there was a problem with the eyes. Even though I was facing hand surgery in two days time, I took the family home with me.

Since I had successfully dealt with two litters that had terrible eye infections previously this season, I was now looked upon as some sort of eye expert, although all I really did was follow doctor’s orders. I could tell that this case was far worse. I wasn’t sure how, one-handed, I’d be able to keep up with the medication schedule that I knew would be required, or if I could even save these beautiful babies.

Unable to get an appointment for the kittens with the veterinary ophthalmologist until after my surgery, I was worried. I was also relieved to not have to delegate medicating or even feeding them to the kind neighbor lady who looks after my animals while I’m away. Momma would take care of all her babies’ needs; only she would need food, water and clean litter.

I named her Moustachia for her comical Charlie Chaplain moustache. She is the best mother I have ever come across, cleaning, hugging, vocalizing, and guarding her tiny babies. She talks to me and reaches out lovingly as I take them, one at a time from her teats, to medicate their eyes many times a day.

This wonderfully friendly cat was owned by a family in Santa Maria. They did not bother to spay her, and their way of dealing with the cat when she came into heat, was to throw her outside.

Not wanting to bother with the kittens when they came, they called us for help saying they’d take the mom and one of the kittens back if we spayed them. When we told them the cost of caring for the kittens and the spay/neuters, they thankfully relinquished the whole family to us.

The trip to the vet resulted in the suspected bad news. Three of the kittens had ruptured eyes from two different infections they had contracted in the birth canal, and the rest had severe corneal lesions. If that were not enough, they also had eyelid agenesis, a malformation of the upper lids. This is a condition requiring surgery and ongoing care for the rest of their lives. With everything stacked against these tiny beings, I took them all home with a bag full of medications to try and save what I could.

Sadly, the next day one of the kittens took a turn for the worse and, being in great distress, we made the difficult decision to end his pain. Mine had only just begun.

A subsequent visit to the vet confirmed that the remaining siblings would probably not make it as well. Moustachia will now be facing painful mastitis unless a motherless litter can be found to replace her babies.

This horribly sad situation could very easily have been avoided by a simple spaying. The numbers of sick and malformed felines coming out of the north county is on the rise due to public resistance to “fixing” their pets.

The financial cost of spay/neuter is not that great, considering the cost incurred for unwanted, compromised litters. Unfortunately, when these litters arrive, they are either left to fend for themselves and wantonly breed, or are given away to friends and relatives who, in turn, do not have them spayed or neutered.

This is an emotional job, and though I often waffle between being furious and heartbroken, I luckily have many hours of joy as well. That’s what keeps me going.