Basil

My story

On Saturday 21 September 2024 we received an email from Bill who was here on holiday and had come across a malnourished kitten with breathing difficulties. As we are not a rehoming or rescue centre as such, the first thing we always do when people get in touch with us is to point them in the right direction and see if there is anyone locally who might be able to help. We also suggested trying to get the kitten to a vet as his breathing issue was particularly worrying.


Bill and Basil

By Monday morning, the kitten had been taken to a local vet whereupon he was looked at and given an antibiotic injection for a ‘lung infection’, with instructions for further antibiotic treatment and eye drops for the next week. Considering the kitten couldn’t breathe properly, you would have thought an X-ray would have been the priority. Anyway, having had no luck with local organisations, the fear was that the kitten would die once their holiday was over as of course there were other strays in the area and the kitten wasn’t able to get to food fast enough.

So, by Tuesday 24 September it was decided we would step in and go to collect the kitten that week. (As an aside, we get a lot of emails from people on holiday who come across injured/sick cats in need of help and have no luck in the local area. One of the first people to do this had found a kitten who badly needed help, but our hands were tied as we were dealing with Noodle who was seriously ill with leukaemia at the time. We gave as much help as we could by directing the lady to volunteers and associations in the area, which all amounted to zero. Fast-forward a week or so, the kitten and its sibling had died, as had Noodle. Even though it was physically impossible to have helped in this particular situation, it’s something that still haunts us and that I (Anna) personally regret, even though I know it was impossible to have gone to get the kitten(s) at the time.)

Back to Basil. We collected Basil on Thursday 26 September and once we’d got him home I sent a video of him breathing to our vet. Needless to say, on Friday 27 September he had an urgent X-ray, and we could see there was literally no air in his lungs. Parasitic infection was the likely cause so we started immediate treatment for every kind of parasite under the sun, along with a different antibiotic for respiratory infections. Basil was dangerously underweight for a three-month-old kitten, weighing just under one kilo. We were told right from the start and in no uncertain terms that Basil’s condition was life-threatening and he could literally die at any moment. None of which was diagnosed by the original vet, of course.


Basil when he first arrived.

As part of his treatment, Basil was also introduced to the nebuliser, which enabled him to directly inhale medication into his lungs. We would put Basil in his carrier, cover it with a towel and then feed the tube through the gaps in the carrier. The last time we used this was for Biscuit, who could never wait to get out! Anyway, we did this for five days, before Basil started to become agitated and slightly panicked when he was in the carrier. We reduced the amount of time he spent in there but eventually we couldn’t even get him to stay in there for a minute, and after consulting our vet it was decided that we couldn’t stress him out as any amount of stress could potentially kill him. We did manage to use the nebuliser in the closed room, rather than the carrier, a few times, and this wasn’t as stressful for him – how effective that was we don’t know, but it was better than nothing.


Basil had been with us for over a week now and we really thought he was turning a corner. He was eating, drinking, going to the toilet, meowing – just like a healthy cat. His breathing hadn’t changed but there weren’t going to be instant results from the medication, so we believed he was at the start of a long journey, and that was okay as we weren’t going anywhere! By Saturday 5 October, Basil wasn’t eating so well and seemed a bit wobbly. We let a couple of the Bandits into his room, which he didn’t seem to mind, and nobody bothered him. Pixie took an instant shine to him and would wait outside his room. I think Pixie would have been Basil’s favourite girlfriend. We took him out on a tour of the house so he would know he wasn’t going to live in one room forever. As usual, we left food and water in his room, and we thought he would feel better in the morning.




On Sunday 6 October, Basil was listless and very wobbly. He accepted food on a spoon but never managed more than a few mouthfuls. We made an emergency call to our vet and asked about Basil possibly needed oxygen. The problem was that anything invasive like that, which in this case would involve a canula and being enclosed in a cage (which is what Edward went through a few months ago), could potentially kill him due to the stress involved. So, we found ourselves in a no-win situation with both the nebuliser and the oxygen, given the very fragile state of Basil’s health. As he was eating small amounts regularly throughout the day, which was better than yesterday, we decided to monitor the situation. We spent the rest of the day with Basil, offering him a variety of food on a spoon, introducing him to more residents and sitting with him on the veranda three or four times, which he really enjoyed as it was a warm, sunny day. He made himself comfortable on a cushion and even walked about a bit, still wobbly but determined. We thought he was doing better. Early evening, we brought him out of his room again and he sat with us on the sofa, perfectly calm, before being placed back in his room. Shortly afterwards, I checked on him and found him very distressed. He was meowing loudly and was very agitated, pacing up and down the room. Two seconds later, Basil was laid out on the floor, gasping for breath. Lawrence picked him up and held him as he died minutes later. Needless to say, we were absolutely devastated.



The only ‘good’ thing about this was that Basil was not on his own when he died and he was not outside where he’d been found just over a week ago. He died knowing he had been loved by us, Bill, Mags, Jean, and so many people who were following his story online. We have no idea how long Basil had been struggling to breathe like this, we have no idea how long it would have taken for him to recover from something like this, but we all gave it our best shot and so did he. Ultimately, it proved to be too much for such a young kitten to deal with. Basil was only three months old, and apart from Leia’s brother, who was only four or five days old when he died, Basil is the youngest to leave us. And that really hurts as he had his whole life ahead of him with so many new friends to make here.


We’ve included the dates to show just how short a time we had with Basil – nearly eleven days – and we’ve included so many details as the impact he has left on us is huge and we want him to be remembered.

Breathe easy and rest in peace now, Basil. You will never be forgotten.