Feral Vegas kitten gets help from celebrity Instagram follower

A Las Vegas kitten who had the misfortune of suffering an eye injury while feral is now in the home of a national celebrity.

In early December, Jean Spaziani, a longtime Community Cat Coalition of Clark County (C5) volunteer trapper, was releasing cats at a colony caretaker's home. She and the caretaker were talking when they noticed a small calico tabby kitten running in the street and playing. They managed to capture it and determined no one in the neighborhood was missing a cat.

Nikki Martinez of Summerlin took the kitten home to foster it. Martinez estimated it was 7 or 8 weeks old and that the eye injury the kitten had sustained had occurred when she was very young.

"When I saw that eye, my heart was broken to know she had to live like that," Martinez said. "She was just so sweet."

Martinez has an Instagram account, myfosterkittens, with 45,000 followers, where she posted the cat's picture. She also ran a "name the kitten" contest in an effort to raise funds for eye surgery. Meanwhile, the kitten — now named Leela as a result of the contest — contracted an upper respiratory infection that took about two weeks to clear up with antibiotics.

Beth Stern, wife of radio personality Howard Stern, is involved with the North Shore Animal League in New York and is a follower of myfosterkittens on Instagram. She has also written a book on her own cats, called "Yoda: The Story of a Cat and His Kittens." Proceeds help support the cat rescue group in Long Island. She contacted Martinez and asked if she could take the cat.

The eye was of particular concern. Stern said she'd have an eye specialist look at it and pay for whatever treatment was deemed best.

"When I got her, I never thought she'd wind up going to live with the Sterns in the Hamptons," Martinez said. "... I was sitting there, thinking, 'How am I going to get her there?' "

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant, Alicia Connors, who had adopted cats from the animal shelter, was contacted. She agreed to take Leela to New York. Flight attendants get special rates, but those rates are for stand-by status, and this was the holiday season. To ensure Leela got to her new foster parents in a timely manner, Connors' airline co-workers donated their airline miles for a full-fare ticket.

On Dec. 22, the pair flew from Las Vegas to Islip, N.Y.

"We could have gotten stuck otherwise, since it was Christmas travel season," Connors said. "I'm so happy for this little kitty."

Beth Stern met Leela at the airport in New York, and the Sterns took her home to meet their other foster kittens. They renamed her Leela Sophia, partially after the popular jewelry party line.

On Jan. 12, Leela Sophia had her eye removed. The Sterns will care for her during her recovery before finding her a permanent home.

Keith Williams, president of C5, said it's not often a C5 cat is kept for adoption purposes.

"Finding homes is not normally part of our mission. We just focus on trapping and spaying and neutering, so it doesn't happen often," he said. "Last year, we probably only put 100 cats into adoption. But kittens ... they're just terribly cute. They just are."

The C5 effort began in January 2010, trapping feral cats for spaying or neutering and then setting them free again. Cats can have their first litter as young as 6 months, after a two-month gestation, so controlling the population is important.

"We are approaching our 25,000th cat ... Should be in about three months," Williams said. "This will be a big milestone for us."

Visit c5-tnr.org.

Editor's note: Shortly after this story went to press, View learned from Connors that the Sterns had decided to adopt Leela Sophia as their own.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.