BLYTHEWOOD – A 4-week old stray kitten hit by a vehicle in front of the IGA store in Blythewood last spring, and found bloody and laying on the pavement in front of the store, was affectionately dubbed Smush.
Today, his name is Charles, and he has a new life befitting his fine new name.
The heartwarming story of Smush’s survival is a testament to the care and compassion of several Blythewood folks who turned his life around.
It all started when Blythewood IGA employee Kathy Chapel was leaving work on May 22 and spotted a tiny kitten laying, injured on the driveway not far from the front door of the store.
“He had probably just been hit by a vehicle,” Chapel said. “At first, I thought he was dead. He was just lying there, very dirty and bleeding. I couldn’t tell what color he was. He had injuries around his head. It didn’t look good at first, but then I could see he was alive. I picked the little kitten up, wrapped him in a towel and rushed him over to Doko Animal Hospital across the street.”
“When she came rushing in the front door with this kitten wrapped in a towel, I expected the worst,” said veterinarian Dr. Brian Gallery, owner of the animal hospital.
“He had blood on his face and back end, and was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He was hot, dirty, in pain and distress, with a pretty deep laceration near his tail. He was traumatized. We rushed him to the back, gave him some oxygen, stabilized him and tried to cool him down. We pretty quickly x-rayed him.
“I was pleasantly surprised when the x-rays didn’t show any major trauma or broken bones. While he had a head injury, he was not acting neurologic,” Gallery said. “He was acting as normal as a kitten could act following being hit by a car.
“At that point, I felt cautiously optimistic,” Gallery said.
“These feral kittens, like Smush, come in malnourished and sometimes in terrible condition but, with supportive care, they’re pretty resilient,” he said. “We cleaned him up, washed him, put him on pain meds, gave him an antibiotic and de-wormer and left the wounds open. In about 24 hours, he was better.”
After about two and a half weeks Smush, who turned out to be a long-haired yellowish Tabby, was completely healed, with only a medium-sized scar on his back end.
That’s about the time a second fortuitous event crossed Smush’s path.
Courtney Wiley, an elementary school teacher and Blythewood resident, stopped by the animal hospital to board her 5-year-old cat, Susan, for the weekend. Wiley mentioned that she was looking for a kitten to buddy with Susan. Two were available. Wiley looked at them, but said she would think about them while she was away.
“But when I went back to pick up Susan, those two had already been adopted,” Wiley said.
The hospital staff then brought out Smush.
“He was perfect,” Wiley recalls. “He was just what we were looking for.”
Wiley took the kitten home to meet her husband Andrew, a drill sargeant at Ft. Jackson, their 16-year-old daughter Kaelyn (a Blythewood High School student) and their cat Susan.
Wiley says it was a perfect fit.
The family renamed the little yellowish Tabby Charles.
He’s growing fast, and now has a long fluffy tail, an adoring family, a loving sister-cat, and an attitude to match his new status.
“It was a traumatic start in life for this little kitten,” Wiley said. “But with everyone’s help along the way, it all turned out great for all of us.”
Especially for Charles.
