When Lola Ayers decided she wanted to adopt a pet, she visited an animal shelter near her home in Roswell, Georgia, where she met Humphrey and Edgar, two cats who had both been born with micropthalmia.
“Microphthalmia is a developmental disorder of the eye in which one or both eyes are abnormally small and/or underdeveloped,” explains Lola. In addition to micropthalmia, Lola discovered Edgar also had feline eyelid agenesis, a congenital condition that causes cats to be born without eyelids.
“They were covered in fleas and clearly suffering,” remembers Lola, and while she wanted to provide a home to both of the special needs kitties, she knew she was only able to adopt one of them. “I went back five days later — on November 14, 2017 — and adopted Humphrey.”
Humphrey, an adorable flame point Siamese cat, was approximately four years old when Lola adopted him, and he quickly settled into his new home. However, Lola couldn’t stop thinking about Edgar, his feline roommate at the shelter, so in June 2018, she began searching online to see if she could find out what happened to the handsome black and white cat.
“I went and looked at the shelter’s Facebook page and it said he was rescued and the rescue was tagged in the post,” explains Lola. She also discovered that Humphrey and Edgar were actually brothers, something she hadn’t realized seven months earlier, so Lola contacted the rescue — Purr Nation in Woodstock, Georgia — to let them know that she’d adopted a sibling of one of their cats in late 2017.
“They were so excited to hear he was in a good home that they offered to cover the adoption fee for Edgar,” says Lola. Unable to resist reuniting the brothers who had ended up at a Georgia animal shelter after they were found living on the streets, Lola agreed to foster Edgar, eventually adopting him on August 21, 2018.
When Lola first met Edgar at the shelter in November 2017, he had both of his eyes, but one of them was so malformed that it eventually had to be removed. He also had an eyelid graft using tissue from the eye that was removed, making it possible for Edgar to actually close his one remaining eye. “His recovery took awhile, but he recovered well,” says Lola.
However, both Edgar and Humphrey have poor vision, a result of micropthalmia, so Lola made sure the brothers were comfortable exploring a smaller section of her home before giving them free reign of her house. “They can see enough that they can see things, but they can’t see clearly and they can’t see anything from far away — only close up,” explains Lola.
While Humphrey and Edgar may not be able to see as well as other cats, these adorable siblings have no trouble finding their food or litter boxes, and they like to eat, cuddle, sleep, and play just as much as the average feline. “They both love to run around the house and get into trouble, and they love to play with crumpled paper over anything,” says Lola.
Despite being separated for several months, these cute four-year-old kitties act as though they’ve never been apart, and Edgar and Humphrey spend much of their time snuggling with one another. They also enjoy cuddling with Luna, their adoptive little sister, and pretty much anyone who will pay attention to them, but almost nothing excites these special needs boys more than food.
“Every time feeding time comes around, they both run laps around the kitchen, prancing around, waiting for their food,” says Lola. “We call it their happy dance.” While Edgar and Humphrey might require more work than a typical cat — which most likely made it harder for them to find forever homes — Lola has found that these unique kitties are more than worth the extra effort.
“Many people don’t want to have to deal with anything other than cleaning a litter box and feeding them,” says Lola. “Every cat deserves to live a happy life with plenty of love, regardless of their needs.” Thanks to their loving mom, these adorable brothers are living happy and active lives, so much so that Lola often has to remind herself that Humphrey and Edgar are practically blind.
“Most of the time I forget they can’t see, just because of how much they continue to defy the odds every day,” explains Lola. For the most part, Humphrey and Edgar are as capable as cats with perfect vision, but their mom admits these special siblings are unique in other ways.
“They know how to communicate with humans better than cats,” says Lola, who struggles with anxiety and depression. “When I’m feeling down, I can always expect one of them to come through the door to come cuddle with me!” Even though it’s been less than a year since Lola laid her eyes on these unique kitties for the first time, she has formed a very special bond with these two, and she’s already gotten a tattoo of Humphrey and has plans to get one of Edgar.
While Lola has chosen to celebrate her love of these handsome boys by getting their images tattooed on her body, she knows that Humphrey and Edgar don’t need to be able to see her tributes to them in order to know just how much she adores them. “Humphrey and Edgar are some of the happiest, loving boys ever,” says Lola. “They don’t need their eyes to feel love; it’s not something you can see.”
To learn more about these adorable brothers, you can follow Humphrey and Edgar on Instagram.
