Feral Cat Behavior

This boy went gently into the wind. He is not bounding over the Bridge, he is flying. He is breathing unencumbered and his nose no longer resembles Niagra Falls. He carries secret messages within his heart for a special someone who is waiting for him.

God Bless the Man who couldn’t drive by this straggly looking kitty. God Bless the pet author he remembered meeting and wrote to asking who can help Zavan- and most of all, God Bless this Brown and Black Kitty who carried within him the courage of a tiger-

I know that I wrote that I would put every medicine in this boy to keep him alive, but he was fading regardless. Yesterday, I made the conscious decision to just not give him anything but love, food and water for him to take on his own, and to keep those vaporizers going. And for a brief moment, this kitty who had been lying in the same spot for two days, came out after I left and ate a bit, pooped and peed. Then he returned to the same spot.

I went in later, elated to see he was eating and using the pans. I was in the room cleaning up talking to him and he didn’t peek his head out of the cage. I didn’t reach in to love on him- I just let him be.

He finally came out right before I was leaving and he snagged the bottom of my jeans. I turned around and bent down to pet him. His tail was low-switching from side to side and his eyes were so full of fluids- but he looked at me and he said, please enough. I can’t do this anymore.

As I pet him, I noticed his body, his tail was covered in slime. There comes a time when you have to step out of the situation and take a hard look at a cat and wonder about the quality of life. This cat at one time mattered to someone enough to be chipped. But somewhere along the way, someone stopped caring, or they moved and in the chaos he escaped and found himself on the streets fighting to survive.

Whatever he has- it is kicking his brown little butt and I am waiting for the proper time this morning to call Vicki and ask her to end his suffering. I believe she knows I will be calling. It is not a phone call I want to make nor is it one she wants to receive.

I am sorry that he isn’t strong enough to kick this, I am sorry I am not wise enough to actually talk to him and ask him what is wrong with him. But I have seen this look before and he is tired, and his body is worn down. It is time for him to find that place where pain is not an issue, where he can run and fly and connect with others before him and others just like him.

I sent the hardest email this morning to the man who found him and brought him to me. It has been requested that I have Zavan cremated and returned to the gentleman who could not ignore this skinny, wet black and brown kitty that caught his eye as he drove by.

So in the end, not only in my home, and in all of your thoughts but in the heart of this kind-hearted man- Zavan MATTERED and I will tell him that before the needle finds its place and Zavan flies to heaven.

He stopped eating last night. There is no activity in the litter pans and he stays to the back of the cage instead of coming out to greet me. I did assist feed him but he threw the majority of the slew up and his tail started switching angrily. I managed to catch his urine and will take that in tomorrow morning along with him for a recheck. His third eyelids are very pronounced he can barely see and he has developed almost overnight huge sores under his nose from all the discharge. I’ve left him in peace for now- in the dark to hopefully find what he needs to continue the good fight-

I have poked, applied, squirted, pricked and slathered Zavan with medication that I am sure tastes fairly nasty.

Just now, trying to give him sub-cu fluids, he was less than cooperative and I only ended up giving him half of what he needed. He backed away from me, his back was arched, his eyes were gummy and although no sound came out, it was clear he was hissing at me.

I told him he can hate me all he wants. I will continue to squirt slime into his mouth, make him take his iron supplement, sprinkle LLysine on his food, prick him with needles every other day and give him more fluids if it means he lives. I told him he can hate me and may it be a long, healthy hate in the end.

Whoever reads this-please say prayers for Zavan- he is slipping and I have a feline specialist on the way to weigh in on the situation. Please just send a prayer and I will fill it all in later- I am up to my eyeballs today juggling alligators.

Ok- just got back from the vet’s office where I picked up some Pet Tinc and RenaKare Gel. Zavan is dropping tremendous amounts of potassium and iron so I need to supplement him in the hopes of making him stronger.

Dr. Vicki one of the top feline specialists in the U.S. and who helps me with my tough cases says that she doesn’t think this is bartonella as he doesn’t have most of the symptoms associated with the disease. Whatever he does have, or has picked up it is chronic and could he have a deep-seated lymphoma? At his age, this is entirely possible. But she suggested I supplement him with iron and potassium and get him a B-12 shot. All of which has been done.

I found the magic food he wants to eat which is Whiska’s wet- not the best choice but certainly better than nothing. I am also to give him fluids every other day (sub-cu) because she does not believe like my regular vet does that his loose skin is mostly weight loss-

So now, I will go in and see if I can give this gel and tonic to Zavan and give him a bit more strength to fight another day.

They unwrapped the leg and removed the cast and I was so fearful at what they might find. BUT it looks so much better! Hard to say that when you look at the photo, but remembering what it looked like before the amputation it is like night and day! He got a pretty new blue cast. He will in a cast for about 6 months-

If you want to see the foot before they cast it- click below

Mikes leg

I set up a second vaporizer for Zavan- poor kitty- I have snot from one end of the bedroom to the other! I put him in a carrier and covered him up good and scrubbed the floor and shelves and stripped the bed. I put old cat blankets on the bed and underneath a rubber sheet. He’s dripping and sneezing, but he is eating using the litter box and wanting love. he’s still really weak but he is inquisitive and a bit upset with me when I touch his poor nose to put drops in them and put ointment in his eyes.

I’m just pulling for him and doing all I can. My one cat Pippi who a vet told me had FIP and would die (this was months ago) I argued with her and told her she was wrong- she turned out to be wrong and I put Pippi on doxy suspecting she had bartonella and she is fine today. Her eye still erupts from time to time, but she is active and loving and alive. She wasn’t as old as Zavan or in as bad shape, but I am still pulling for this drug to work its magic.

I left the big cage open and he decided to sleep inside of it

Thankfully, he does come out to eat! So there is still hope he can pull through this-

This morning, although his eyes look better, he has bubbles coming out of his nose. He shows no interest in food- he just wants me to love on him. When I tried to assist feed him some pureed baby food, he spit up large amounts of mucous. He spent the better part of the night hugging the vaporizer and his tail switching tells me that leaving him alone for now is the thing to do.

Mike goes to see the vascular surgeon today but I should get the results to Zavan’s bloodwork today and have a clearer picture of what we are looking at here. I also am going to ask my feline specialist to take a look at him later in the day.

He is such a love- but his boneyness is alarming. He has a sweet disposition- but when he tires of you- you better look out! LOL That tail switching means business. Sometimes just letting them be in the dark alone is good because some cats have amazing regeneration properties- but again something has caused him to drop alarming weight- he should be at least 12-14 pounds as he is long and lanky.

It’s going to be a busy day will try to keep everyone informed. By the look of my in-bin I am not the only one who has fallen in love with this Chocolate Boy!

3:30 update: The blood tests indicate Zavan has bartonella and is extremely anemic-at the very edge of needing a blood transfusion but not quite there yet. It is a flea-born disease and cats who carry it also give humans who have low immune systems cat scratch fever.

There is a specific blood test to prove that he has it, but it is prohibitively expensive and so we are just going to put him on Doxcyclycline the wonder drug. The problem comes with the fact that Zavan can’t swallow pills because his throat is so inflamed and even liquid is a challenge. We are looking into a Doxy patch to see if anyone in this area can make such a creature. That would be wonderful! He could have the medication without the stress of pilling and holding him to squirt liquid into his mouth.

I just got home from the doctor’s and Mike will be admitted to the hospital on Friday where they will remove a growth that no one seems to know what it is, nor have they ever seen anything like it before- and we just got back from the vascular surgeon and he is scratching his head. They will rush it to pathology and let us know the results as soon as possible-

(OK God, you can stop any time now- my prayer life is very strong!)

Zavan is 8.8 pounds. He had a normal temp. His teeth have a bit of an issue considering his malnourished state. He might have to have two teeth extracted but not right now. OMG he was so full of fleas! That’s the first thing I treat when a cat comes here, but he was trying to so hard to breathe and was so dehydrated, I concentrated on that instead! (Bad Mary Anne) as my granddaughter would say! He blew snot all over the table (and the tech) I felt so sorry for her, but I had to laugh- Dr. Steve was inserting two qtips into the nostrils to run a cytology and the tech bent down to watch closer and “SPEW!!!” all over her face. I had to laugh because he blew snot on my hair last night! He does not have cancer in the nasal passage which was a fear, he does not have a fungal infection which was another concern. What he is blowing is white blood cells that are built up in his nose.

He very cooperatively sneezed about 52 times during the exam! Mostly in succession. There is edema built up under his third eyelids pushing his third eyelid to be visible and that is just from sinus pressure.

They did a CBC and a Thyroid check because he is so skinny-results will be in tomorrow morning. They deflead, dewormed and gave him a Covina shot. I am to put ointment in his eyes three times a day. He has a yeast infection in his ears, so they gave me drops for that. I needed more syringes and needles so they included that and Zavan was quite the gentleman. When he simply had enough of poking, prodding, scraping and handling, he would reach out with one front paw and one claw, grab the arm of the person messing with him- not draw blood- but stop the activity and look up as if to say- “Hey, can we take a time-Out?” This leads me to further believe that this cat is pure Burmese. Strays don’t do that- they attack with vigor not refinement!

I had to go and get some L-Lysine in the hopes that some of this URI is feline herpesvirus- I got some vicks to put on his throat because his tonsils (did you know cats have 21 tonsils) are all inflamed. I got more vaporizer the good stuff not the generic and he is home, in the bedroom lying on the bed looking at me as if I have betrayed him!

I left him alone last night with all the doors shut and this morning when I went in to check on him, he hadn’t moved from the spot near the vaporizer. He did get up to greet me and head bump me. I spent just a bit of time with him- then made sure to scrub up good and change clothes before going out of the room and saying hi to my crew. He sneezes in rapid succession and I gave him my sweatshirt to lay on and it was covered in snot and discharge. Whatever he has got- it has him in a tight grip. There was no way he would have gotten better in a stress-filled shelter. Here he has a chance, I just don’t know what type of chance he has at the moment, as he is really quite ill- But I have already fallen in love with him! Who out there is surprised at that revelation? LOL

It’s 7:00 now, his appointment is at 10:00 He is sick enough that I will leave him in the car until they call my name. I have a heated blanket I can cover his cage with- I can’t risk getting any other cat that might be in the waiting room sick.