Sweet Pea (now Čupka): A kitten who lost her tail and found a loving companion

In late July 2019, Kotor Kitties received a message from a tourist, Josefin, who was staying in Risan for a few days. There was a kitten she had seen with a mutilated tail. She sent us the photo you can see. She had found the kitten we named Sweet Pea, who was very friendly, and wanted to know what to do. It was late at night and she was advised to keep the kitten safe that night and take it to the vet the following morning. She found a box, but unfortunately, when she went back to find the kitten it was nowhere to be seen.

We put a plea out on our Facebook page for anyone in the Risan area (about 30 minutes drive from Kotor) to try and find and help it. Luckily one of our followers, Milica Popovic, lives in the area and saw our post. Finally, after a couple of days, the kitten with no tail was spotted again.

Milica took it home and cared for it until it could be taken to the vet. Milica has 6 other cats and 2 dogs – one of the dogs and the kitten now called Čupka were very sweet together. Whenever the kitten cried the little white dog would act as its protector and bark at anyone holding her until it was put down for the dog to “care” for her. Milica took the kitten to our vet in Kotor, Dr Ćetković, who discovered she was a girl.

Čupka underwent three successful surgeries to repair the damage done to her. In addition to her tail being severed, her spine was exposed, her rectum destroyed, sphincter muscles left in shreds. She came through the surgeries beautifully, the bowels, rectum, and reconstructed sphincter muscles are working well. The open wound healed over nicely.

She was an extremely lucky girl to have been taken to Dr. Ćetković, as not all vets would have the skill and patience for such a level of reconstructive surgery.

After 4 weeks at the vet, she was well enough to return to Milica, who had kindly offered to give her a forever home. And yes, she did have an emotional reunion with Milica’s little white dog.