"Miracle Cats"

When my son turned 10, a friend got him a kitten from a local pet store. The kitten was running all over the place, so we named him Frisky. After about 2 weeks, Frisky was sleeping a lot. I sat there petting him one day and noticed that the top of his head was very hot. I wrapped him in a blanket and rushed him to the vet. He was only 8 weeks old. The vet checked him over and diagnosed him with panleukopenia (feline distemper). I researched it a bit and found out that the mortality rate is extremely high for kittens who get this disease (99.5%). We left him at the vets, not expecting to get him back. The vet set up IVs to rehydrate the kitten. Happy ending though, we got him back a couple of days after Thanksgiving. He weighed only one and a half pounds. I fed him with turkey soup (mainly the broth and little bits of turkey). He was so happy to be back that he kept climbing our legs and tripping us. He started to be known as D.C., or Darned Cat. D.C. is now 13 years old. He has not slowed very much, he rules the roost over my 12 year old female and my 8 year old, 85 lb. dog. He has cataracts and a few less teeth, but he is living the good life.

Spotty's Liver Disease

A little over a year ago our 20 year old siamese just died; he was fine one minute and just fell over dead. No indication he was ill, he was extremely active but he was 20, so it really is a blessing he went that way and we never had to make a decision about him. Well, shortly after his death Spotty got into and ate many bags of "Cat treats". I think he was lonely and just got into mischef. About a week later I noticed he was getting jaundice (he is black and white and his little ears are so white they are usually pink). This seemed to get worse and then he started to vomit. I took him to our vet, by this time he was so yellow especially ears and gum he almost looked green, the vet panicked and scooped him out of my arms said he was in serious condition and had to be started on immediate IV's. Well you can imagine how I reacted not even suspecting a serious problem. I could hardly drive home. They vet continued Iv's and ran every blood test imagined. He kept him a week. His liver is enlarged but I refused a biospy because I felt it would only cause pain and not cure. So the vet did not really know what was the cause; old age? cancer? cat treats ( my idea ) or something else. I basically took Spotty home to die. He looked awful; nothing but skin and bones, and very depressed (only a cat owner knows how awful a depressed cat looks). I was supposed to feed him the special cat food and give him vitamins. I tried everything to get him to eat and he just wouldn't - he hated the food. He was still so jaundiced and getting thinner. I decided that I was going to give him his regular cat food (Iams canned and dry), that at least he would not die hungry. I also remembered that sunshine was a good vitamin source and that my Grandmother used to say it was good for babies to help them rid their bodies of toxins (I am sure an old wives tale), but we have a sunny deck; we fixed a safe place where he could sit in the sunshine and just tried to make him happy. He was eating some of the regular food; I encouraging him to drink liquids any thing watery milk, watery broth, etc. He loved potato chips the vet said the salt was bad for him but he begged and we indulged. So all in all we didn't follow the rules the vet set, we just tried to make him happy. And he started to get over his depression and gain his weight back. Eats like a little pig now, he is now very playful, a little slower than a young cat (he is 14) very vocal, and of course our shadow. He goes out on the deck every nice day. Still eats regular food and begs for chips and pretzels and Italian food. We had him back to the vet for a check up, the vet cannot believe he is alive. He said he has never seen a cat so jaundiced and not be deathly sick. He has no explanation, and I won't leave him again over night, it just not worth it. If they could cure him yes, but not for test etc. Just had his teeth cleaned, of course they couldn't use anesthesia, but he did fine. I don't know what may have caused this the only thing in his past that I thought might have contributed to the problem is years ago we had a terrible problem with ringworm. My daughter got it from the neighbor that had a grooming kennel. Our cats never go outside and I know that they got it from her. If you read on the BB I told that story 27+ people in our neighbor got this and it took months to get rid of and the med fulvicin (sp?) is hard on the liver. But that was many years ago and the vet did not think that was the cause. I search the BB's and the Web for info there is not much out there. VT that use to be on the board [the AcmePet CAT'S WINDOW Bulletin Board] was a great help; lots of advice and kind concern. As I said I refused additional testing that involved surgery, so I don't really know what caused the liver disease. That may be wrong, but I couldn't bear to put him through more. I have no dillusion this will kill him, his liver is enlarged and I believe it is getting worse, He is still jaundiced, and at times very. And somedays he doesn't feel good and I panic, but he bounces back and is fine again for weeks and weeks. All we really did was to love him make him happy. I have never been without cats usually at least 3. But this little guy is so very special. He came to our door as a stray 14 years ago. We already had two cats and I couldn't afford the vet bills for a third so my husband said no way. I talked him into keeping him till I could find a home cause our shelter was a kill facility. He agreed but only outside. ( My cats have always been inside except when we lived on the farm, and then I had a barnfull as well). This cat was so unique. Where ever the children were playing in the neighborhood, so was this cat. They rode him around in their bike baskets, he rode on their shoulders when they played, he was in the tree house with them, the woods. He let them dress him like a baby and push him in a doll buggy. He didn't do this under protest like our other cats, he seemed to seek it out. Where ever there were people, you could find spotty. He would wait at the bus stop and when he heard it return he would run to the kids. Everyone loved him, but they all had a reason they couldn't take him. My mother loved him, but had a cat-eating dog so she made a deal with my husband to pay the vet bills if we kept him. George agreed but not in the house, two were enough. We lived in Ohio then, and it was a very cold nasty winter. We used a wood burning stove and everyday George was out cutting wood and splitting logs there was Spotty, on his shoulder or sitting beside him on a log. He wasn't afraid on anything even the chain saw. Nothing ever upset this cat. Soon when George was bringing in wood he let the cat come in with him for a little while. Then it became longer and longer, and finally he was an indoor/outdoor at will. Until we moved to NC, then he was strictly indoor. After not wanting the cat my husband [was] very attached to him and Spotty to my husband. He is the sweetest natured animal. Loves everyone and everthing. People, dogs, cats, vets, nothing upsets him. When the other cats would run and hide he would welcome whoever. He loved my daughter's bunny and would play and play with it. He has the softest paws, he never puts out his claws when he plays. At night he pats my face before he goes to sleep and always kneads me before he sits down. He accepts whatever is happening, vet visits, teeth cleaning, car rides, strange animals without the slightest protest. I guess he trusts what ever we do to be fine. Just a true sweetheart. But that is why I just couldn't put him through more. He has made us so happy I wanted his last days to be happy. I won't cause him any pain but I won't let him be in pain either. I know he misses his old friend that died. But I have waivered in getting another cat, 'cause I can't decide what is best for him. We didn't think he would be with us long, and still don't know. We just take it one day at a time and are thankful to have him a whole year after we were told he would die.

Buster's Story

Buster, I knew what his name was the minute I picked him up out of the kitten box at the county animal shelter. I had just had to have a wonderful little kitty put to sleep and desperately needed a new friend to try to ease the pain. So that day at the shelter I picked a timid little brown tabby female who I named Chelsea and then there was Buster, if you could imagine a kitten with boxing gloves roughing up all the other kittens in the box that was Buster. Gray with a white chin and tummy and all boy! He protected his sister from day one and was always the first to explore new territories, he found cubby holes and hiding places in my house that I never new were there. His favorite place was on my or someone else's lap doing that bread kneading thing.

I took them both for their kitten vaccinations and made sure everything was on schedule. On one particular visit when they were a few months old I took them in for their feline leukemia vaccinations. I rushed home from work scooped Buster and Chelsea up and into the carrier and shot over to the vet for the vaccination clinic they had that night. I got back home after and gave them their dinner and noticed that Buster was walking funny on his back legs. He couldn't seem to stand up all the way on them kind of like those pure bred German shepherds, really low in the back. So I panicked and called the vet. They thought it might have been a reaction to the vaccination and told me to bring him back immediately. So I did, they checked him over but couldn't find anything but they offered to keep him over night. One week later he was still at the vet and not getting any better but not getting any worse. They decided it wasn't a reaction to the vaccination, but perhaps was spinal injury from falling while playing and maybe I just didn't notice it. Well, I'm not sure what happened but the vet never could explain it and a few months later he had gotten back to normal.

Then when he was one year old I was watching him walk across the floor and noticed that it seemed to be happening again. His back legs were weak and sort of dragging. It got worse almost like a paralysis of some kind was slowly working its way up his spine so, I took him to the vet again. This time he hadn't had a vaccination since the last episode so it couldn't be that. We tried Predisone for a month, again he only got worse. The vet was stumped. They referred me to a veterinary neurosurgeon an hour from my house. He took x-rays and blood tests and couldn't find anything so he recommended a spinal tap but he didn't think he would find anything. At that point Buster was pretty upset about the whole thing and my check book was empty so I told him I wanted to take Buster home and see if I could just make him comfortable.

By this time the paralysis had worked its way from his tail to his neck, he could no longer stand or carry any weight on his legs. He couldn't use his claws and his muscles had atrophied to practically nothing. All he could do was lay on the floor and hold his head up. As he got progressively worse I laid all his cat climbing toys down so he could crawl around on them and not hurt himself. Eventually it got so bad he could not get in to the litter box so I set up a big box, the kind a microwave comes in. I put a platform with a cushion on it that was level with the top of the litter box and his food and water bowls so that he could just scoot over to them and put it all in the box. That worked until he couldn't scoot anymore, I literally had to hang him over the litter box using my hands as a sling under his tummy so that he could go and bless his little heart he did! I fed him one spoonful of food at a time to make sure he ate, I kept him clean with a damp cloth since I know how important it is for cats to keep them selves clean. And I took him outside to sit in the sun on warm days. We put him with us where ever we were to keep him company.

I had long since given up on any drugs since we tried them all and nothing worked. All this went on for about six months but as long as his spirits were up and he wasn't in any pain I was committed to keeping up whatever he needed. The one day when he was laying next to me on the couch I felt his little feet doing that bread kneading thing! Sure enough over the span of the next 6 months his strength came back. Very slowly a first but soon enough he could stand up, then he could climb into the litter box and eventually make it up the stairs. None of the vets ever diagnosed the condition and none had ever actually seen it before.

Buster is now six years old, 15 pounds and the king of his castle. He terrorizes our 70lb golden retriever and God forbid you should try to extract him from a nice warm lap! He runs and jumps with the dexterity of any feline. In fact the only remnant of the whole thing is that the muscles in his upper arms seem to be more developed than the lower so he looks kind of like Popeye! He is the apple of my eye and proof positive that miracles do happen!

Bitsy's Story

This is the story of the infamous Queen Bitsy of dorissimo's domain. Bitsy was born in June of 1991, to one of Poppy's daughters--a black and red tortie named Crissanthemum (Crissy). We were in the midst of a heat wave, and a terrible flea problem developed. Well, you're not supposed to flea-spray a pregnant cat, so we didn't. Then, you're not supposed to flea-spray a nursing mother cat, so we didn't. You also aren't supposed to flea-spray kittens under--what is it, three months?--so we didn't. In the meantime, Crissy was so miserable from the oppressive heat (and the fleas) she didn't want to stay with her kittens. We kept her with them in a large carrying cage, but she was not happy and would hardly allow them to nurse. Under these conditions, the kittens became weaker day by day. I gave them supplementary feedings of evaporated milk and water with an eyedropper till they were finally weaned and able to eat on their own. But then, they developed diarrhea which we couldn't stop with medication. They became dehydrated, and also being anemic from flea-bites, they just couldn't survive. One by one they died, in a matter of days--that is, all but Bitsy. She ate well, but the diarhhea wouldn't stop. A neighbor of ours, who has many pets, brought us some new medication, and gave Bitsy a king-sized dose of it. By that time I had little hope, but I trusted Barbara--she had helped us treat our pets on other occasions, with positive results. The next morning I went into the kitchen, and was dismayed at the sight of Bitsy lying on the floor. Her tiny legs would not hold her up--she couldn't stand or walk. Sure that we would lose her that day, I wrapped her in a towel and sat on the couch, cradling her in my arms. I must have sat there for hours, weeping all the while. Then, at about 1pm, she crawled out of the towel, jumped to the floor, and proceeded to walk to the kitchen, where she devoured some cat food left from the other cats' feeding--and no diarrhea afterwards, honest! I couldn't believe it--it was a miracle--and from that time on I thought of her as my miracle baby. She continued to thrive and grow, and now, at six years of age, she is one of our stockiest cats--also one of the smartest. I thank God for the miracle of her life!

Icicle's Story

A girl and her mother were working out by their barn. The girl pointed to a cat-shaped hunk of ice. "Look mom an ice cat!" The mother went to break it off for her daughter and realized it was a real cat! It was still alive too! They warmed up the oven on low and put the cat in. Within an hour the cat had warmed up and was meowing for food. They took the cat off to the vet for it's shots and to make sure nothing was wrong. They named the cat Icicle. Their cat hates the outdoors and they have to make sure the oven door isn't left open!

Laura found this story in a cat's magazine.

Checker's Story

"I thought this was a miracle cat story, because unless our dog hadn't gotten an upset stomach on that exact night, and my brother hadn't been begging for a cat, Checker wouldn't have gotten a chance to live. Nobody wanted a half grown kitten. Everyone wanted baby kittens. The clinic was closing for Christmas and they were going to put the cat to sleep the following day if nobody claimed her."

This is NOT about an illness it's about two dreams that came true. It was a rainy Sunday in November and I was playing with my cat Clide. My brother wanted to play with him too and kept interfering with the game.

He was only in grade 3 at the time. He climbed into Mom's lap. "Mom can I get I cat?" he begged.

"Gregory I'm afraid that if we get a second cat it will make dad's allergies to cats worse and we might never be able to have a cat again."

Well Gregory continued talking about getting a cat all throughout the month.

Meanwhile our dog, Dylan had an upset stomach and we had to take him to the vets for some medicine. As my parents were leaving the vet clinic they noticed a black and white tabby in a cage.

They asked about her. "She's going to have to be put down tomorrow if nobody claims her. She's half grown, not a tiny kitten, so nobody wanted her"

Well we brought Dylan and the cat home. We laid the cat on Gregory's bed and called Gregory into his room. "Your room is a mess! get in here and clean it!" they shouted.

Gregory came running but was surprised because he'd cleaned his room earlier.

"Who's cat is this?" he asked.

"It's yours" you have to think of a name for it.