Abused kitten gains worldwide attention

Veterinary technician Tiffany Sroka has a celebrity of sorts living in her bathroom. He's not the most active little guy out there. He still sleeps much of the day, but is starting to work up an appetite and eat again.

"There were times we thought he probably wasn't going to make it," said Tiffany Sroka, who works with the nonprofit organization Pet Luv in Brooksville. "He's an amazing little miracle."

It was two weeks ago when Sroka saw Dexter, a black-and-white kitten, for the first time.

It all started in a park on June 10. Witnesses at Hill n' Dale Community Park told investigators that 24-year-old Wilana Joenel Frazier hit two kittens with an aluminum bat while making comments about shooting people and killing. They said her two sons, 5 and 8 years old, were with her, and that they all kicked the kittens repeatedly. One kitten died. The other survived. Staff members at Pet Luv's clinic named him Dexter.

The neurological damage he suffered from the torture meant Sroka could barely hold him. He'd seize when she did.

"Over the course of the past two weeks, I've seen him go from a ball of fur and now he is a kitten," Sroka said today. "He started to see last night."

When Sroka isn't playing with him in her living room, he's recovering in her apartment's bathroom tub so he won't wander and hurt himself. She has laid out blankets, stuffed animals and toys to make him feel more at home.

"He's recovered so much it's hard to believe that he was still the same kitten," she said. "But we have to keep in mind that he can still regress into that."

Once Dexter's story hit the media, people all over the world started watching him. Dexter's official Facebook site, which Sroka updates regularly, has more than 1,600 followers. Support has come from as far away as Uruguay.

At first, Sroka would have to get up every two hours to make sure Dexter was OK. She'd check her computer to wind down again. There were always new messages coming in at 2, 4 and 6 a.m.

And the support hasn't stopped.

"There were candles lit and people saying prayers for him and I'm crying saying 'my poor baby,'" she said.

By Sunday afternoon, more than 26,000 people signed an online petition asking that the state prosecute Frazier.

Sroka said it will be hard to let him go once he's strong enough, but she thinks Dexter will find a permanent home some day.

But Dexter's not ready to leave. Pet Luv officials have limited his contact with other humans because of fears that he may catch a virus. He's still in "critical care," and will be on anti-seizure medication until the swelling in his brain goes down.

In the meantime, Frazier is facing charges of animal cruelty and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She is out of jail on $3,500 bail.