A friend and i had been caring for a feral colony behind our apartment complex; making sure all the cats were fixed and vacinated. We rescued and adopted any of the kittens that were born as well, so we knew every cat in the colony by name.
One night i heard a frightening sound outside my apartment, it sounded like a cat choking. I could hear him gurgling and gasping, struggling for breath. I went outside and there was a cat who just appeared overnight- green mucous leaking from his nose and mouth, coughing and trying to get air. I was sure it was pnemonia from the sounds of him. I fed him, pet him, and picked him right up- i had never seen him there before, but he was so gentle and desperate for love that he wrapped his little paws around my neck, pressed his dirty face against mine, and gurlgled out a purr between his coughing.
I took him to the vet and he agreed that it was an upper respitory infection, gave me medications for him, and told me to put him back outside! How could i do that?!?! He was so loving and so sick- how could i put him back out into the frost-ridden night? And so he stayed with me...quaranitined at first to the bathroom until i knew he was not FIV or feline lukemia infected, then he was thrilled to have full reign of the house!
He immediately bonded with my other two cats (both rescues as well) withoug a single hiss or swat. It was as if they knew he was sick and needed love. He slowly stopped coughing up mucous and sneezing, but still he wheezed with every breath. I tried different medication- still wheezing. So i decided to get a second opinion.
The second vet saw it right away- and showed me the xray of my poor little Wheezer's throat. Several of the cartilage rings were crushed, making the tissue in his trachae swell and collapse inward. God, how i cried that day- thinking of anyone hurting this poor sweet loving cat. And so i started him on predisolone (a sterioid) and a bronchodialator called Theophiline. It was supposed to help tighten up those muscles a little.
It helped for a while, but gradually his wheezing became worse and worse. Off to another vet. They xrayed him again and saw it was getting worse....they then suggested i try this rare surgery to repleace the crushed cartilage rings with plastic stints. I went to the clininc, and was heart-broken to find the procedure is risky (as any surgery) but also very expensive! $2500? I could hardly afford a roof over our heads. I prayed and prayed that he could get better, that he deserved a miracle.
Now i ask your help to help bring the miracle to life- the miracle of human compassion. Please help my little Wheezer!
