By Alex Cooke
We are in Chengdu, China for this interesting route to feline internet celebrity. And the cat was a stray. An unlikely combination.
A street cat named Feifei suffered from feline entropion. This is when the eyelid turns inwards causing hairs to brush against the cornea resulting in irritation and squinting. The condition is hereditary and can occur in Persians and related cat breeds.
It can also occur following a bout of purulent conjunctivitis (chronic bacterial eye infection).
Feifei could hardly open his eyes and he looks miserable (see images above) which is unsurprising as it hurts. Somehow he found his way into a veterinary clinic. I guess a kind vet, He Jinyi, took sympathy on the cat’s plight. Apparently a couple of animal welfare volunteers found Feifei and noticed that something was wrong with his eyes. They took him to the vet for a check up.
He performed double eye surgery (surgery is the corrective procedure for this condition).
There are before and after photos. It is interesting that in China surgeons perform double eyelid surgery cosmetically on humans to make their eyes larger.
The vet emphasised that he was not performing cosmetic surgery on the cat. Perhaps the prevalence of this sort of cosmetic eyelid surgery on people is the reason why FeiFei is an internet celebrity in that country.
The surgery took around 30 minutes. It costs around $295 (USD). This seems very cheap by western price standards.
One website visitor (perhaps on China’s version of Twitter, Weibo) said:
“Now I understand why so many girls are so obsessed with double eye surgery.”
It seems that FeiFei is going to stimulate the market for cosmetic surgery on humans for rounder and bigger (westernised) eyes.
Source: South China Morning Post.
It seems that we’re seeing a shift in perception towards the monetary and intrinsic value and trainability of cats. But the cruelty rages on, which is heartbreaking.
I don’t believe in luck, but this cat was walking a fortuitous
path. This joyful to me, as any positive transformation is.
very interesting and a very lucky kitty!! ♥♥♥
Absolutely. What a lucky cat. This sort of cat would normally live a pretty gruelling life. China is improving on the animal welfare front. More animal advocates and volunteers involved in cat and dog rescue. It is good to see.
I agree Michael. Too many anipal advocates have been calling out China’s disrespect for anipals — especially companion anipals, and it has, albeit slowly, improved. There is still a long way to go, but progress is progress.♥♥♥