They say cats have nine lives, but there's no telling which life Popeye is working on.
The cat wasn't expected to live when he was delivered to Bradley Animal Hospital after some children found him lying in the street. He was hit by a car, perhaps intentionally, according to passersby, and suffered severe head trauma.
It took several surgeries to repair a fractured jaw, which was wired shut, and his left eye was sewn shut because it was pushed out of the socket.
"He looked pretty bad, but the cat was just so calm," said Sandy Brown, a hospital employee who helped during the surgery.
The long-haired orange tabby survived, and hospital workers pitched in to pay for the animal's medical bills. They nicknamed him Popeye because that's what his eye does now.
"It was neat to see how the staff took care of him," Dr. John Bradley said. "The staff took it upon themselves to get some donations and work off the clock to help him."
In the past several weeks, he said the hospital had received some stray animals that were injured and needed help. He said it's sometimes difficult deciding how much care to give an animal when the owners are unknown.
"The challenge as a small business is we have to consider the bottom line," he said. "We're not able to take in every stray that comes in."
But there was something about Popeye that struck a chord with Bradley's staff.
"It's always upsetting when we get an animal in this kind of condition, but we decided we wanted to help him because it was a dramatic injury," said Rebecca Moore, one of the hospital's employees.
Bradley said the cat's condition has improved dramatically during the last week. The cat is taking a liquid diet and antibiotics through a feeding tube.
Within a week or so, Bradley said Popeye should be released to his owners, who were located a couple of days ago. Luckily, he said, his owners, who call the cat K.C., found him through the Lawrence Humane Society, but the hospital still has two male cats that need homes.
"It's going to be a happy ending for K.C., but not every animal is that lucky," he said.
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