After a winter rescue and long-awaited surgery, Hope, the cat with no eyes, has finally bounced back — and occasionally, into things.

The Burlington Humane Society rescue tabby was adopted last week after she was found abandoned in the Ikea parking lot in December.

The 16-week-old kitten was found along with her mother and sister (named Charity and Joy, respectively).

Humane society adoption counsellor Janet Cappus couldn't say for certain if the cats had been abandoned, but stressed that any owner would have had to notice something was wrong with Hope's eyes. She was born with microphthalmia, a developmental disorder that means her eyes are abnormally small and nonfunctioning.

After she was rescued, BHS staff posted photos of Hope on social media and the local community quickly fell in love, commenting and 'liking' photos of the playful blind cat.

"She definitely caught the hearts of a lot of people," Cappus said — and that love led to an outpouring of donations to cover a much-needed eye surgery.

Thousands, all in, though Cappus couldn't give an exact figure.

Hope's eyes were removed earlier this month and she recuperated more quickly than anticipated.

"She's incredibly intelligent and can find her way around," Cappus said.

"She's the most playful kitten … anything with a spring or a ball, if she could hear it, she was playing with it. She would run all around the room."

While Charity and Joy were adopted soon after their arrival in December, it took a little longer to find Hope a home because of her special needs.

But on Thursday she found her match — a single man in an apartment.

The BHS staff was conscious of finding her a one-floor home, to accommodate her blindness.

"And her new owner says she's already found her favourite spot on the couch," Cappus laughs.

The humane society is accustomed to having special needs cats hang around a little longer before they are chosen. It has the hardest time with cats that have special diet or medical needs that will require routine followup.

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For example, two cats living at the shelter have no teeth.

"But we keep them until they find a home; it doesn't matter if it takes three years. We're a no-kill shelter, so they stay as long as they need to until the perfect person comes along," Cappus said.