My fiance and I rescued a sick cat on Wednesday night. I'd like to share our experience with the Daily Kos community. WARNING: Some disturbing images below.
[Wednesday, 6/3/09, 7 PM.]
Denise (my fiance) and I live in Pasadena. We were going to Highland Park to the home of our friends Tera and Ryan to attend a class on healthy vegan cooking put on by one of their friends. Near their house I made a mistake and turned left one street before the street they live on. No worries, thinks I, just turn right at the next intersection and you can park on a side street and walk to their house. So that's what I did.
However, when I got out of the car and came around to let Denise out, I found that there was a cat blocking the door.
Let me try to describe this cat to you.
I've been doing animal rescue work for a few years and have helped rescue three kitties and nurse them back to health (one of which I adopted). I have never in my life seen a cat in such wretched shape as this one. She (I later found out she is female) was filthy and obviously had been living outside for a very long time. She was horribly emaciated with her ribs showing. She was severely dehydrated. She had open sores on her mouth and below her chin. Her hair was matted all over her body and all over her tail. One particular hair mat was so large that I initially thought that it was an organ which was protruding from her body (maybe that's crazy, but that's what I thought). She had a bad respiratory infection and was wheezing heavily. Her eyes had crud all around them (eye boogers) and the tissue under her eyes was red. One front fang was gone. She stunk to high heaven.
She was purring.
Also, underneath the filth it was obvious that she was a beautiful cat, with sky-blue eyes.
She couldn't move much, but she clearly wanted us to notice her. I sat on the ground and petted her, and she kept purring. If I moved, she followed me, as best she could.
Here's a picture of the kitty:
I looked at Denise, and said "Can we walk away from this?" She said "no". I agreed, so we decided take the cat to a veterinary emergency room, and there was no way we were going to be going to the vegan cooking class that day. Denise went to Ryan's house to see if she could find a box to put the cat in to take her to the vet. I stayed on the ground and continued to pet the cat. I couldn't imagine what a horrible life the cat must have had up to that point, but I was determined that that part of her life was going to end right then and there.
A few minutes later, Denise reappeared with Ryan in tow and a box big enough to hold the kitty. Ryan was impressed that the cat would let us get that close to her; he had tried before and the cat always ran away. I wasn't surprised; when a cat is very sick it sometimes throws itself on the mercy of the first stranger it sees.
Here's the kitty in the box:
Denise and I got into the car with her driving. It wasn't convenient to keep the cat in the box, so I held her in my arms on the way to the emergency clinic. This clinic (the Eagle Rock Emergency Pet Clinic) was one we had been to before when one of our cats had a urinary infection, and we liked them and trusted them. Plus, they weren't far from where we were.
I should mention that we have four cats already (two of mine and two of Denise's), and it didn't seem likely that we could adopt another one.
We drove to the emergency clinic. There were two people ahead of us, but the cat didn't seem to be in any immediate danger, so we waited a little while. The veterinarian we saw told us that the first priority was to test the kitty for FIV/FELV, and after that they would do some blood work, take an X-ray, give her IV fluids to rehydrate her, and maybe get a urine sample. They would also cut off the largest pieces of matted hair, but she was too weak to give her a full bath. The bill was estimated at nearly $700. I said, well, if that's what it takes, that what it takes and told them to go ahead. They told us to come back in a couple of hours. We went to get dinner. Before we left, we had to give the cat a name. Denise said she wanted to name the cat "Hope". I agreed, so Hope it is. The audacity! ;-)
When we came back, we met with the vet again. She told us that the cat was FIV/FELV negative (YES!) and also heartworm negative. They couldn't tell us how old the cat was; they said that it could be anywhere from 8 to 15 years old. Cats age quickly when they live outside.
The vet said that we should leave the cat overnight and they would continue the IV. They close at 7:30 AM, so we would have to come back and pick her up early in the morning and take her to a regular vet.
[Thursday, 6/4/09]
We went home, got a few hours sleep, came back and met with a different vet. She told us that they couldn't get a urine sample because the cat was so dehydrated that she was just absorbing all the IV fluids they put into her. The blood work showed that she was anemic, and there were some problems that were common with starving cats, but nothing extremely alarming. Her kidney function appeared to be OK as far as they could determine without the urine sample. They said she had asthma in addition to her respiratory infection. Her heart was slightly enlarged, possibly a complication of her asthma. And, most unusual of all, her X-rays showed her stomach and intestine appeared to be filled with air. They said that sometimes cats who have trouble breathing gasp for air and it ends up going into their stomach. They had put a cone around Hope's head to keep her from pulling out her IV. We paid the bill and took the cat (in a proper cat carrier now) to a daytime vet we knew. We gave them all the information from the other vet and left the cat there. A few hours later we called them and they told us that the cat was eating a lot -- a good sign! She was also pooping normally, also a good sign.
We checked up on her around 6:30 PM. We talked to the vet, who told us that she was continuing to eat everything that was put in front of her. We got them to bring her out and Denise washed her face a little bit. They promised they would de-worm her and also give her a proper bath the next day.
[Friday, 6/5/09]
We checked up on the cat at around 4 PM. She had just been given a bath and smelled a lot better -- not rosy, but tolerable. The IV had been removed, she was drinking normally, and she was still eating voraciously. We made a video of her and took a bunch of pictures. Then we just held her for a while while she purred away. I don't think I've ever heard her not purr yet -- the entire time we're around her, she purrs nonstop. She was also doing that paw kneading thing that many cats do.
Later, Denise insisted on going to a local pet store and buying her a little bed to sleep on, as well as some high-quality kitten food for them to feed her. Kitten food is better as it's high in fat and protein, and Hope desperately needs to gain weight. She immediately took to her new bed, and jumped right on it and started kneading. She seemed disappointed when we had to leave.
Here are some more pictures of the cat.
With the IV bandage still on:
With the cone, in her carrier:
Snoozin':
A view of the underside of her face, showing an open sore (probably the result of a fight with another animal):
Nighty night:
That's the story so far. We have a Facebook page where we'll post updates:
http://www.facebook.com/....
Anyone can join this group.
We still haven't found a home for the cat, though we have some possibilities. We would also not be upset if some Kossacks helped us defray the hefty vet bills (see the Facebook page for donation information). But mostly, I wanted to let you know about this beautiful cat and how wonderful it feels to save the life of a living creature.
Finally, here's a video we took today:
UPDATE:
Several people asked us how they could donate to Hope's recovery fund. It's in the comments, but here it is again. You can send money to Denise's Paypal account (go to http://www.paypal.com and enter her email address, which is denise@panix.com). If you prefer regular mail, you can send me a check at my work address:
Michael Vanier
California Institute of Technology
Mail Code 256-80
Pasadena CA 91125
We went to see Hope again today. She is doing noticeably better, but she still looks pretty grim. I said to her "Your friends at Daily Kos say hi!" Her response was to continue eating. I'm going to post another video and some new pictures on the Facebook page. Denise and I are so very grateful for all the contributions and words of support; it was far more than we expected.
Mike