Hope’s bloodwork is back and it doesn’t look good. She has “non-regenerative anemia” which can mean only a few things: chronic pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease or lymphoma.

To narrow the field and try to figure this out would cost us additional hundreds of dollars because they have to rule out things first. To do the short-cut version of a firm diagnosis would mean an ultra-sound- which could run up to $500.00.

It seems like it always boils down to money in the end. Money we don’t have and as I was talking to another friend this morning who does fundraising- it gets tiresome asking for money all the time. But if you don’t have the money, the diagnosis stays in limbo. So what to do? I have decided to start her on B-12 shots weekly and keep the thought of prednisone on the back burner for now (I hate using pred for cats- never a good thing). I will keep her comfortable for as long as she is able to stick through the day and we will go from there. Our vet bill is once again higher than I would like it to be and adding another $500.00 on it for a cat who may or may not be able to be saved doesn’t make sense. The money when it comes will go to help those who I actually can help. The vets are pretty certain this is cancer.  Her weight gain is still a puzzle- 2.5 pounds in under a week is pretty unheard of- all I know, is she is inside, she is warm, safe, eating and drinking and that’s pretty good for now.

This just came in my email and made me smile:

Hello May Anne,

Lake, renamed Ona, is climbing on me at this very moment. Sorry not to respond sooner, I’ve been working a lot.

    Ona has been going back and forth with me, to work and then home. She seems very agreeable to everything that pleases her. She has a very strong personality.

    She walked into the house and when the chows came to give her a disinterested sniff, she attacked with great fury, they’ve gone back to chowy behavior of ignoring her completely, which is just what she wanted. She jumped up onto the counter where the cat food is and while allowing Tuck her place at the bowl, staked out her claim and now demands loudly whenever she decides it’s time to be fed. Baked chicken suits her just fine. I think she downed one and a half chickens that first day! She’s mellowed out since then. She and Tuck mostly ignore each other but have no issues. It’s good.

    She has a very, very strong personality. She’s not a princess, she thinks she’s the Empress! Right now, after climbing on me like a jungle gym, she’s square in the middle of a dog bed. The dogs have given up protesting.

    I’d say that you have no worries. She’s no fragile, shrinking violet as I first thought. I expect her to annex California next week if she keeps going on like she is.

    Time for my dinner. Talk soon.

rose (written under the direction/command of Empress Ona)

—– Original Message —–

Tweedledee and Rumbles were negative for the nasties. The missing toes on the back leg is a mystery to the vet. She is missing toe #2 and also toe #4 which he has never seen before. He said sometimes, young queens get a bit aggressive with their grooming and will remove a toe, but this doesn’t look like that is what is happening here. He wants to give her time and see if she can work through the handicap and get a bit bigger before running films on her.

Hope had her blood drawn. She has gained over 2 pounds since she arrived!  THAT’s a LOT of weight gain in such a short time.

Decided against naming the one kitten Tweedledum- I don’t wish to put that type of dum label on anyone especially this kitten. According to Dr. Vicki both kittens are about 5 weeks old, pretty depleted, suffering from URI and malnutrition/dehydration. Plans include taking them in tomorrow to the clinic to be tested- upgrading their food from baby food to pureed kitten food mixed with formula. Her concern on the calico’s deformity lies in the direction of future issues with pooping. The pelvis is extremely narrow, but she could not feel any stool in the system so somehow this little one is coping.

Young girl came to me tonight. Her and her friends were out riding (horses) and they saw two kittens in a field in the middle of nowhere. Before he could be stopped, one of the dogs on the trail ride ran over and mauled one of the kittens. She did her best, she said to stop the molestation, but she was afraid the dog had really hurt the kitten.

I have both of the kittens now here with me. The little calico pictured only has a three-toed back foot which means that she was either inbred or its a genetic mutation. There is no wound, so it isn’t the dog’s fault for this abnormality. Both the babies have high fevers- loads of fleas and the little tortie girl (what is it with all these torties this year?) has goopy eyes. I have started them on amoxy- the calico seems to be okay- other than the fever- she is eating, the tortie is not. I call them tweedum and tweedledee for now-

Aurora is responding to her meds in a positive way. I put a thermometer inside the heating cave so I could monitor the temperature better. The pet pad the kittens are lying on is unplugged during the day, then turned on around midnight. The heater is set to lowest setting and right now the temp inside the cave is 69 degrees. The kittens are active, warm and feeding. Mom is eating, drinking with no visual signs of upset. The vet mentioned the “D” word. I guess he had to seeing that Distemper hit here almost two years ago now. But as I told my feline specialist, if the kittens have distemper, they are awfully darn healthy with it! Decided to name the two orange kittens Run and Rerun. The tortie girls are Brooklyn and Ursa.

Hope is better this morning. I added forte flora in with her feedings and it seems to have settled things down. Perhaps she just isn’t used to the food yet and the bile in her belly got the best of her. But, I still want to get her in on Monday and run a full panel and fecal on her to see what we might be facing with her. She is food aggressive- VERY- do not get in the way of her food bowl once she gets it. In cats this isn’t very common. We see it in dogs more than cats.

She is backsliding rapidly. I had to leave for a few hours to run errands and when I got back, she had painted her rather large cage with bodily fluids. It was such a mess, coming out of every orifice poor girl. The stool was the most alarming. It was the color of seaweed and her diet has not changed. I can’t get her to the vet until Monday, but I called my feline specialist and we talked. Normally, when a cat vomits, you withhold food for 24 hours. But with her being so depleted, that isn’t going to work. So now, I will start feeding her 8 times a day, just teaspoons at a time. On Monday when I take her in, I will ask they do a complete panel and a fecal and we will see where we are at with her.

She is a lot more active than she ever has been before which Dr. Vicki says is a good thing. It may just be because she hasn’t had food in such a long time, her body has a hard time accepting it on a regular basis.  I just feel for her and I want to see what her levels are before deciding our next available option.

Please pray for her- she is feeling a bit puny at the moment

Her fever went up into the OMG range and I ran her and her kittens to the vet this afternoon. He thinks she has a bacterial infection so she is on amoxy. It is risky to put a nursing mom on antibiotics, but amoxy is pretty tame so she and the kittens should be alright. He checked to be sure she didn’t have mastitis or something wrong inside of her (like a re-absorbing kitten) and he didn’t feel anything alarming. You could tell she was feeling punky and I did get her tested. Thank the Lord she came out negative- I would have been so sad had she been positive. We didn’t vaccinate her – will wait until the kittens are older.  He said the kittens look good “very stout.”

Hopefully in a few days, Aurora will start feeling better. She threw up all over the place when we got home. She held it until she was away from the kittens. She rushed out of the carrier and went out into the small catio and left her sick there.  She is such a good mom-

Just received an email that an artist Bryan Carlson who makes exquisite lights for cat lovers will donate $50.00 to the rescue of the purchaser’s choice for every light he sells.

His website is here  Bryan Carlson   I love his style- he has great flair and a passion for animals-

Poor girl is so depleted. She is on a heating bed right now and doesn’t look like moving is in her future at the moment.

Unless it is to eat!

9/25/2014 her weight is 5 lbs 8.2 ounces