A rescue cat who came in covered in flea wounds gave the blood that saved a dying kitten
Pearl, an 11-year-old black cat, came to the Blue Cross animal hospital in London covered in flea wounds after her owner died. Once she recovered, she gave the blood that saved a dying kitten.
6 November 2026
Pearl
When she arrived, the vets found sore wounds across her back and tail from a bad flea infestation.
She was cared for at the charity’s animal hospital in Victoria, central London. After a few weeks she was well again.
Drew
While Pearl was still at the hospital, a five-week-old tabby called Drew came in. He had been left under a bush on Tooting Common, in south London.
Fleas had made him badly anaemic, and he needed a blood transfusion fast. Pearl’s blood was a match, and her donation pulled him through.
Now
Drew is getting better in a Blue Cross foster home and will be rehomed. Pearl is looking for a home too.
Carry a story in five words
We run a game called Long Story Short: one real news sentence a day, and you keep the five words that carry it. Today’s is below. Do play.
How to play
One real news sentence. The job is to keep the five words that carry the story and let the rest go, then guess. Blue means the right word in the right place, orange the right word in the wrong place.
Yesterday: A grandmother, 85, was already outside her Benton Harbor home when firefighters arrived on Friday, because her grandson had pulled her through a window as the kitchen burned. The five were grandson pulled grandmother through window.