It's hambone time! My sister Judy brought in the traditional Thanksgiving hambone for the cats. They will chew, gnaw, bite, and lick it for days! They love it. It's safe and they sure do love it.
We had BOXES last night. Many thanks to you!
David & Christine & kitties Miyu, Yuki and Anya--7 trays of Beyond can cat food (delicious!), 3 of 40 lbs. Precious Cat litter
littleonemine/Kelly from CA--vol. box--2 calendars, wrapping paper, 3 bags bubble gum, Ghirardlli mints, lg. bag of M & M's. For consolation prizes: tin of Christmas cards, scarf, package of cat magnets, 2 meow frames
Aleda--For Mich & Vern to use for flash sales--a pricing and tagging gun, with all the parts!
Billie K--petstage fold away scratching tunnel
mls/Linda S--memorial stone for Froggy (ty)
Merri_Marvin from CA--holistic dry cat food, exam gloves, 2 rolls duct tape, purple pouch with pens/notes, candy for vols, kitty snackers, 10 cans cat food, broth packet, ziwi Peak venison cat food, hairball aide tablets
CherylAnn275 in WA--34 wonderful pillowcases for flash sales--so pretty! Wild Huckaberry salt water taffy/peace ornament, Thanksgiving card
Emily & Aiden from IN--instead of receiving BD gifts, they asked their friends to bring items for FFRC--can food, dry food, toys, bleach, paper plates, catnip, glass cleaner, trash bags, cash donation
Connie D's sister, Diana & family--dry cat food bag, 1 1/2 cases of Friskies canned
Jatcat--lg. container of snackers. For the FireHouse--a motion sensor ceiling light and night light
Leanne & Jacqui from Candad--donation, bleach, 10 gals. vinegar, snackers for kitties & humans
Janet B and Alleycat from FL--Thanksgiving card and the famous $5
Mark S/oldestmanalive--donation to FFRC, in appreciation
Twitch from MI--donation to FFRC
We weighed the cats yesterday. We found 3 that were a bit on the plump side--we don't dare say that awful 3 letter F word! lol The cats would be offended. So, we have a course of action! We have removed the extra bowls of food that are on benches/countertops. There's food bowls in almost every room for them to eat. We can also have people play with them, with the laser light or stick toys. Also reduce the amount of snackers given to them---they can't count--two snackers may seem like 5 to them (we hope!). Also we will be taking them out to the Kitty Kabana room a few times a day to encourage more activity. We can do this!!!! Give them encouragement!
We have also learned a few things from lab work this week. Following will be an update on some of our "problems" we are working on. I will try and explain.
Zeke--had a biopsy of a skin growth in his mouth--all is well, it is not cancerous. But it does show a bacterial granuloma. So, he is now on antibiotics. Have to get him eating again.
Paddy Purr--his nose is growing again--same problem we had last year, when we had a biopsy done. He's done the traditional treatment (3 injections, 2 weeks apart). It's helped a little bit, but he will be started on a different kind of med soon.
Paddy Cake--he had a dental yesterday. Only 1 tooth needed to be removed. That is good. But a 3/4 out of 6 heart murmur was detected as well as noticing his kidneys are of different size. So....this will be watched too.
Jazara--started 2 days ago not feeling good. Has a temperature and is just "off". Dr. Darcy has him on 3 different/compatible antibiotics. No interest in food. He's in quarantine. We're working on him.
Sherlock--he has been "off" for about 10 days now. We sent him up to the vets yesterday for lab work. He also is running a temperature. Lab shows an elevated WBC count. No anemia. Is probably viral. He's on 3 antibiotics also and 1 anti-inflammatory. He's also in quarantine. Not eating and is being syringe fed.
Sindile--as you know, Sindile has had many problems. He has had 2 lab draws done. The first was for toxoplasmosis. I'm so thankful that that was negative. The lab from yesterday shows a normal WBC and high lymphocytes. He probably has something viral. He can now come out of quarantine and is in the Main Area. About 5 minutes after returning him this morning, it was noticed he has a major limp front left paw. This is being treated.
The 4 girls--Scooper, Marja, Jun and Joop---they have a virus too---different than Sherlock and Jazara. Actually, it's only Scooper that is showing signs. But, all 4 are in quarantine and are being treated with antibiotics. Scooper is better today and finally started eating.
So, as you can see, it's been a busy place here, treating everyone. And this is in addition to the regular morning medicines. We are persistent and determined, just like Derecho, to help these cats/kittens to get better!
We also found out information about Fancy from her necropsy. The diagnosis is FIP--the dry form. We are much more familiar with the wet form of FIP. FIP is Feline Infectious Peritonitis. It's difficult to diagnose, not treatable and almost always fatal. No 3 letters have more power to strike fear into the hearts of cat lovers than F, I and P. It's the most dreaded disease in veterinary medicine and a threat to the cat's survival. It frequently strikes young cats. It usually progresses and causes weight loss, poor appetite and deterioration of body condition. There are no proven treatments for the condition. It's caused by certain strains of a virus called the feline coronavirus. An intense inflammatory reaction occurs around vessels in the tissues where these infected cells locate, often in the abdomen, kidney or brain. Fancy had this thruought her body.
FIP can be difficult to diagnose because each cat can display different symptoms that are similar to those of many other diseases. The FIP virus appears to be a mutant form of the enteric coronavirus--it goes under a transformation all by itself in the cat's body. Some cats appear to be able to suppress FIP if they mount a rapid immune response, others are not able to suppress the virus. There is one and only one bit of a silver lining on the dark cloud of FIP. The disease does not frequently spread from cat to cat. The disease appears to develop most frequently as a unique mutation of the enteric coronavirus in individual cats. Also, the mutated virus that causes FIP usually is not shed by infected cats in significant quantities.
So........with that all being said, it's been a hard couple of weeks. As long as we have a cat willing (and able) to fight and get better, we will be there for them. When the time comes that there is no more fight left, we can help them cross over peacefully and with much love.
Thank you all for being the kind of people who really care. Knowing that you have this compassion for these FFRC cats, means a great deal to me.
