Another Rescue Story – Cat for Adoption

On December 31st I received a frantic phone call from a “friend of a friend” regarding an abandoned, emaciated young female cat. Knowing that there is no more room at the inn here at my house, I actually hesitated in responding to this cry for help. Finally, I told Kristen that if she could scoop the cat up and take her in for a couple of hours, I would be there to check the cat out. Meantime, I would try to think of someone who might want to adopt another pet.

Much to my surprise, this poor creature really was in dire straits when I arrived. As I knelt down to scratch the top of her head, she gave it all she had left in her to push herself up and began to gently knead her paws. Clearly, she was socialized. Her left ear was clipped, indicating she had made the rounds through the local shelter and quite possibly had already been spayed. I couldn’t understand why such a sweet animal was left to die like that. I decided to take her home and then to my friends at Smithtown Village Animal Hospital to examine her after the holiday.

By Friday, Dr. Andrew said that the blood work came back negative and she was given a clean bill of health. She arrived at my house where she wasn’t exactly met with a warm reception. You see I have five other pets. All rescues. They do not like to share me with anyone.

The first week in January was uneventful. New kitty was chomping up a storm at mealtime and we spent most days working on finding the litter box. Her eyesight is not the best, and she was having trouble with her back legs. Then, three days before I left for Dublin, I was awakened at 5:45 am by a horrible scream by my pillow and was repeatedly kicked in the head. Not knowing what was happening, I jumped out of bed and turned the light on and realized at that moment why she was abandoned – she was having an epileptic seizure.

Hearing that this is somewhat common in dogs, I had never heard of an epileptic cat before. The first seizure was severe. She was so tiny I couldn’t imagine how her frail body could handle these episodes. Dr. Andrew and I agreed that we would take a “wait and see” approach before deciding whether or not to put her on the drug Phenobarbital. Ron, my wonderful neighbor and fellow animal lover, took charge of things while I was away for the weekend. When I returned, he said that all was well. Later she began having repeated seizures so she was put on the medication. It is easy to give her, ¾ ml with breakfast and dinner on her food. Add grated cheese when she is finicky. The medication also increases the appetite, so I have added lunch to her daily repertoire.

At this writing (ten weeks later), she is sleeping soundly at my side and by all accounts, a happy, much healthier cat. She just finished her last round of Frontline, so she is now flea free. She has added over a pound to her tiny frame, and has somewhat regained her ability to use her back legs and jump.

She follows me so closely everywhere I go in the house that I trip over her, especially in the hallway. When she is hungry she sits in the foyer and patiently waits for me to come over so she can stick her nose up in the air and close her eyes – this is my cue to give her a kiss on the cheek. She loves her daily kissing routine.

When she comes up on the end of the bed, the only way she moves around is to knead her paws and walk at the same time. It takes her a half hour to move from my feet to my pillow. She is so funny to watch in action. Tigger has been good to her and they sleep next to each other on the bed during the day. She gets along with other cats – if they will have anything to do with her. Her name has changed with every passing week, however, the past two weeks she is responding to “Sweety Kitty”. I continue to pray that Bubba tries to stop eating her for breakfast and that someone special will be willing to adopt this wonderful pet. She can’t go through life without a name!

If you are interested or know of someone who is willing to take on a cat with special needs, please email me at onthegowithmo@aol.com.

PS A special thank you to Kristen for her kindness and compassion toward animals in need, and for the generous donation toward the veterinarian bills. I appreciate it!