New Babies

Crystal had her babies. We finally had a birth at Dramatails that did not involve so much Drama and expense. The birth went well. I didn't get any kittens I really wanted, but they are all firsts for me and a good experience. All longhairs, one straight hair and TWO homozygous. Ugly and interesting at the same time!

Dramatails Iron Man - Selkirk Rex Long Hair.
Straight hair. Silver Mac Tabby


Dramatails Ghost Rider - Selkirk Rex Long Hair.
Homozygous. Silver Mac TabbyDramatails


Igor - Selkirk Rex Long Hair. Homozygous. Cameo

Good Bye Maddie

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that I had Maddie put to sleep about a week ago. I haven't been able to write about it until now, it was just too painful to think about it. Medicating her made her so scared and it was scary for me. I was bitten and scratched so many times I lost count. I could not pill her, giving her antirobe liquid would make her vomit. The injectible form of antirobe was very painful. The toxoplasmosis had caused nerve damage to one side of her face and it made her eye twinge. The only way I could handle her would be to cage her and when she was caged, she would barely eat. If I tried to force feed her, she would struggle so hard she would make herself sick. I re-arranged my home so I could shut up all of my younger cats so Maddie could have a couple of final days free in the house - one more time. I found a great video I'd taken of her with some super-powered catnip –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mofPoQR4usU

I played this over and over again when I came home from that final trip to the vet. My vet was very supportive and sat and talked with me for a long time about my decision. I had such high hopes for this precious girl. It seems like from the day she was born, the cards were stacked against her having a normal life. I'd like to think that she was able to experience a little bit of happiness while in my care. At times, she certainly did seem happy. The house feels different without her here, but I find comfort in knowing she is in a better world, where ALL cats are loved and treated like the kings and queens they are. She has crossed the rainbow bridge and is enjoying the company of Macallister, Dante and other foster cats I've known and lost - and hopefully she has made furry friends of those you have lost as well. Thank you all for your support - I know there are people around the country sharing in my tears.

New Job!

Yay! After 3 months of interviews and back and forth communication, my recruiter Joel and I were successful in snagging me a full time position with Verdiem Corp! I will be their new Program Manager. This is going to be a first for this company and they are hoping I'll be able to come in and help them organize their main products Edison and Surveyor. This is an awesome green company and is hot at a time when green is hot. I will get to bus to work, will work in the middle of down town, two blocks from Pike Place market! I'm very excited.

How to pill a barracuda

Of course I must medicate Maddie with the worst tasting medicine on the planet next to metronidazole. Antirobe (Clindamycin) is so nasty - of course capsules are preferred. I've tried to pill Maddie and I swear it was like trying to pill a snapping turtle, a barracuda, or a pirhana. We are going to investigate options.

A definitive diagnosis

Maddie's final bloodwork came in and she has toxoplasmosis. When you look at the description of toxoplasmosis, her case is textbook:

The most common symptoms of toxoplasmosis include fever, loss of appetite, and lethargy. Other symptoms may occur depending on whether the infection is acute or chronic, and where the parasite is found in the body. In the lungs, T. gondii infection can lead to pneumonia, which will cause respiratory distress of gradually increasing severity. Toxoplasmosis can also affect the eyes and central nervous system, producing inflammation of the retina or anterior ocular chamber, abnormal pupil size and responsiveness to light, blindness, incoordination, heightened sensitivity to touch, personality changes, circling, head pressing, twitching of the ears, difficulty in chewing and swallowing food, seizures, and loss of control over urination and defecation.

We are switching medication to baytril and Clindamycin today and for the next three weeks. We have a VERY good prognosis here!

Maddie - encouraging news

Some of the bloodwork has come back on Maddie as well as a professional evaluation of her xrays. The bloodwork is NOT pointing to FIP! It is showing a decrease in liver functions from not eating as well as suggestions of a slight infection. The most surprising information came from the evaluation of her xrays. According to the report, Maggie has pneumonia. This would account for the on and off vomiting of the last month, the high temperature, and the difficulty in breathing. She shows no outward signs of a URI of any kind, eyes bright, nose clear. But we cannot find any record of her ever being vaccinated either. The vet suspects that Maddie may have sustained some nasty damage to her lungs while in the cattery from hell and the stress of that, plus the rescue, being in animal control for a month, then moving again... She's likely been hiding pneumonia for quite some time. We will continue the baytril and fluids and add amoxicillin. I've let her out of her confinement now that we have no lab signs pointing to FIP. She's much happier out of the bathroom and actually ate for the first time on her own since Monday. Catching her to give her medications is going to be the most difficult part. Right now she's sitting quietly on the floor in the middle of the family room watching my every move. I hope I can catch her tonight without stressing her out too much. We'll see. I'll feel better if she feels better in a week. To all our friends...I think the prayers worked - stay tuned.

Maddie's Vet Visit

Maddie's temp was down to 103.5 this morning when we went to the vet. But unfortunately, that just gets her closer to the average range for FIP. The vet did not feel any fluid in her abdomen, that was a good sign. They put Maddie under with gas anesthesia and drew blood and took xrays. Initial review of xrays showed a lack of contrast of the organs suggesting some type of peritonitis. Maddie is back home with me. Ive given her some raw food today to see if she will eat. The kind folks at catsafratsrx were kind enough to offer to send medications and royal canin rescue food for maddie. We received some catnip balls the other day. The well wishes are very comforting to me as Maddie and I go through this together. I really appreciate the emails we get from all over the country. I have no idea how this will all turn out - either way, it has been so wonderful watching her this past month discover new things and actually enjoy life.

She bit me! Good times...

Well, little Miss Maddie hates to be scruffed, hates it with a passion. So just now when I gave her fluids, I had to pinch off the skin where I took the needle out. She wasn't having it and sunk her teeth into my finger. Good times - as my good friends would say - she has a little spunk left in her. I gave her some buprenex in case she was in any pain. Shoot, now I need some. I work at Microsoft and not being able to use my right index finger will make it hard to type and click! Dang..hurts like a mmmmmudda. Maddie 1 - Mommy 0

She purred for me - oh the irony

Anyone who has ever dealt with FIP knows that it is often called "the purring disease" because the stress and pain of a fever causes the cat to purr - thus making the cat feel more comfortable. Tonite I came home, not sure what to expect. Maddie was very easy to handle, which concerned me. She had peed next to the litterbox. Her little tongue was sticking out but she often does that. She went behind the toilet and I gently put my hand around her belly and picked her up. Yes..I picked her up. In any other circumstance I would be thrilled, but at this moment, I wished she would fight me. I've dealt with a lot of ferals in my time and they get more and more tame as they get sicker and sicker. Both a blessing and a sadness. I easily took Maddies temp and it quickly went up to 105. I crushed up some baytril for her and gave it to her with some babyfood, she really liked that. She just kept looking at me as if she were giving up and asking me for help. As she sat facing away from me in her bed, I started running my fingers back and forth on either side of her spine, and she began to purr. Her entire body relaxed and she just sat there, purring. In an instant I almost wished she would stop, turn around, and run off. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she was purring because she knew that I was helping her? A tiny part of me thinks that, but the practical side tells me that she is feeling the effects of whatever ailment is taking over her body and she's trying to calm herself. I'm going to go and give her another 100cc of fluids. I'll mix some vitamins in with it. I'll also put together a row of dishes with various foods in it. Anyone who has ever had a really sick cat knows this drill too - find every can and bag of food in the house and line them all up, hoping that one of them will be sampled. Our appointment to see the vet is Thursday. I have received prayers from all over the country - keep praying and Thank You from the bottom of our hearts.

A little improvement

Maddie's temp is down to 104 so I'm encouraged that the antibiotics helped. She did not absorb the fluids well which is a concern. Since she improved, I do not think she has a heart problem. She urinated so that eliminates the possibility of a blockage due to UTI. She definitely feels better. But we all know that FIP can come and go with the fever. The vet has suggested I stay the course and bring her in on Thursday. That way we can look for patterns in her reaction to antibiotics. She is going to be a huge challenge to treat. I could only give her fluids last night because she was so sick. Seems to work well if I put her in a single sturdi cage which I can easily manipulate and access her with. I'm expecting at least one bite through all this! She has not eaten.

I do think it is FIP

In writing the previous post it really got me thinking about the possibility of FIP. It can definitely come on quickly like this. I just went in and knelt down next to her, she was curled up on the bed I'd put in there. Needless to say I was crying. I spoke to her softly as she hissed at me. She allowed me to put my hands around her belly. It is large, hard and distended and when I put a little pressure on it, she grunted in pain. Oh my Lord...No - this cannot be happening. More tomorrow after we go to the vet. All I can keep saying to myself is NO, this is NOT fair! She just started her little fragile life over and she's been so happy. No...no...no! I hope I'm wrong.

Maddie is very sick

Just a half hour ago as I was sitting here working, I saw Maddie slink across the floor. Something just wasn't right about that slink. So I walked after her and watched her slink away again. Hm, still, something wasn't right. She looked as if she was disoriented, didn't want to move her neck, actually, didn't want to move at all. So I reached down to touch her. She was fine enough to move away quickly. I followed again and scruffed her – kapow! - fine enough to kick her way out of my grasp. But after only this minute of effort, she was mouth breathing heavily, not good. I chased her around for 20 minutes last week and she was only slightly winded. I went and got a towel and got her into the bathroom. She was burning up with fever. I took her temp...106.9. Of course it is 11:30 at night. She isn't sneezing, doesn't have the look of a cat with URI, but perhaps she has a virus? She is a regular vomiter, but I always figured that was nerves as she has gained weight nicely. Without a clue on her background it could be just about anything. I have given her 100cc of lactated ringers and some baytril. At this point I have absolutely no idea what tomorrow will bring. If this was one of my other cats, they would be sleeping with me all night. Maddie is in a cool room with tile, food and water. I did not give her a litterbox, just a towel. I want to see what her urine/poop look like. I called my contact at MEOW and they have agreed to initially front any vet bills. I said I thought perhaps that BAP or CFA might be able to help with reimbursement of any vet bills. She could also have FIP for all we know, thus the difficulty in breathing? She will definitely go to my favorite vet to try for xrays and bloodwork. Poor girl...please keep her in your prayers. Here is a recent photo of her from last week showing how happy she was hanging out with Charlie, my other semi feral.
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Maddie Movie!