A kitten born with "one eye, one nostril and a cleft lip" finally found love in his forever home alongside his littermate and new cat siblings.
Given his "tiny" stature, Benny immediately caught people's attention after being brought to the U.K.'s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Bedfordshire South Branch in September. He came into the agency's care along with his littermate, Teddy, but Benny was about four times smaller than his brother.
"As they came in initially through a third party rather than rescued by our officers, we only have limited information, unfortunately," Emily Stott, senior national press officer for the RSPCA, told Newsweek via email. "They were handed into the dog warden so they were either strays or abandoned and someone found them but that's all we know I'm afraid."
Thankfully, the vet determined Benny was in "good health" despite his small size for his age, a press release from the agency said.
Benny and Teddy then moved into a foster home before they were adopted as a bonded pair in November by Sam Dye and Hannah Grimwood of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The RSPCA couldn't have picked a better spot for the cats to end up.
"Him and his brother Teddy have found the PERFECT home with a couple who have adopted a whole group of needy cats," Stott said.
Benny and Teddy join Sam and Hannah's three other felines: 7-year-old female cat Charlie, Tony who is completely blind, and Merlin. Tony and Merlin are both rescues. While they have plenty of room on their farm for more, which they want, they have found that because all five cats sleep on the bed, they need to pause the rescuing. There wouldn't be any space for more.
Sam and Hannah saw a Facebook post about Benny and Teddy and immediately fell in love.
"We knew we had to have them!" they told the RSPCA. "They looked lovely and like they would fit in well with our other cats and nice for Tony to have another partially sighted cat as Benny has one eye."
Benny's one eye or size hasn't affected him too much, they said. In fact, he's the most active out of the five cats. He's the first to play and the last one to stop. However, they mentioned he struggles with depth perception, which gave him a difficult time jumping up on the bed or kitchen counter, but he's learning.
They also mentioned he is a "very loud sleeper" because his only nostril gets blocked up. They wipe his nose about every half hour while they're home. Otherwise, he will clean it or one of the other cats will jump in and help.
Now around 7 months old, Benny and Teddy's relationship has only grown since going to their forever home. They're "rarely apart." The two play, sleep and clean each other.
As far as his size goes, Benny has grown but still looks like a kitten with Teddy towering over him. Yet, for sure a tiny cat, he has plenty of love to give.
"They are all friends, it's the happiest family - I couldn't ask for anything else!" Sam told the RSPCA.
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