No Longer Quivering~

Her seizures were not only increasing in frequency since seeing the vet, but also in intensity. Instead of just lying helpless and shaking on the rug or floor, the seizures were now capitulating her airborne! When she landed, she would hit the wall, the floor, a table, whatever happened to be in her way. Quincy was alerting us to her seizures before they happened. It took a few minutes for me to figure out why Quincy was trying to grab my attention because sometimes, Quivers was clear in another room- but once I figured it out, I was able to just gather Quiv enfolded in my arms and all she would hit was the bottom of my chin and neck. šŸ™Ā  I just now took her in and asked Steve to release her from her torment. I am not a fan watching a kitten suffer and she was suffering. She would foam at the mouth like a Lawrence Welk bubble machine. It was unfair to ask her to remain in this world just because she was born into this world. Farewell sweet girl and run seizure free over the Bridge and into the arms of my son. He is waiting for you,

Quivers and Linus at the vet’s

It has been determined that Quiver has toxoplasmosis and she has been put on mega doses of antibiotic and rest to see if the seizures and high fevers will resolve. I am glad to know that we didn’t have to let her pass from this world and I hope she starts feeling better soon. Linus the runt of the litter of the bottle babies has a really bad URI and conjunctivitis. Ointment and antibiotics for all the bottle babies=-

“Momma, please wake up”

These babies lost their mom the other night when mom got hit on the road. According to the woman, the mom made it back to her babies and died that night while the babies were nursing. I got the call on them this morning and went to pick them up. Not shown in the photo are two black kitties and you can see the tortie but she was so hungry she thought the camera was food and kept biting my fingers!Ā  They were of course crawling with fleas so they have been bathed and flea treated. Get the coffee going- every four hour feedings will now commence!01motherlessbabies

Not quite back with us yet

Although she has not had a seizure since the other night, it is clear that she hasn’t returned all the way back to us. She has been circling the living room, meowing incessantly. Feeding her doesn’t stop the meowing and she looks confused as if she doesn’t know exactly where or who she is at the moment. We have an appointment on Monday at 3:00 for her to be seen. She is going to need to be on phenobarbital her entire life and I did find out through our feline specialist that the frantic activity after her seizure was just a continuation of the seizure itself. They call it theĀ post-ictal phase of the seizure. It doesn’t last, but it can vary in the symptoms every time it does occur.

One of my fosters has expressed an interest in taking her but the foster woman is elderly so I want to wait until the vet can see Quivers and give us a direction to go before deciding the next step. The woman has two previous fosters (which she ended up adopting). She is partially deaf and a bit reclusive staying at home most of the day. It might just be what Quivers needs because she’s getting the treatment from the other cats here which breaks my heart. Those of you who might remember the arrival of the 12 senior kitties from that hoarder a few years ago, Iris has one of those seniors and he looks so good after living with her. His eyes are almost all the way cleared up, he is plump but not fat (he has no teeth) and his coat is no longer oily and greasy. She boils him one chicken every week and feeds him by hand. šŸ™‚

 

Quivers

It’s 3 a.m. and Quivs just had a grand mal seizure. She was spent afterward and now is running like a crazy person all over the front room eating kitten kibble and spilling it everywhere. I cannot get her to calm down- her eyes are almost spinning and I jumped online to try and figure out if there is something I can give her to calm her. Holding her doesn’t work- she is all over the map.

I keep immaculate records anytime a kitten is sick. Here is the sequence of this morning’s events:

9/11/2015- woke to Quivers having a grand mal seizure under my bed. Grabbed a flashlight and watched as she lay on her back- legs straight out ahead of her (caught in the guard rails of the hospital bed) and shook and trembled- loss of urine and poop (solid) during episode. Seizure time less than a minute. Tongue out of the mouth- rapid breathing, eyes wide open, pupils fixed and dilated. Because of where she was located, all I could do was lie on my stomach and stroke her gently and talk her through it. Afterward, she shook herself and then shot out from under the bed and started running circles in the room. Almost as if she was chasing her tail . She was slapping at the air with her front paws and I was unable to hold her without her becoming extremely aggressive- which she is not. She ran to the food tray leaped into the middle of the tray and started gobbling food as if she were starving. She seemed to not know me or where she was- her pupils were still dilated, she was hot to the touch but taking her temperature not even an option. She was jerking in slow motion as she tried to eat. She would race away from the food bowl only to return a few seconds later to continue eating.

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Took her about 20 minutes to calm herself down and the only way I could hold her was to wrap her in a towel and walk around the room. I could feel her jerking in my arms and the minute I stopped walking, she became agitated and aggressive to me. She only let me hold her about 5 minutes before jumping down and then she went off chasing invisible bugs (no other way to describe it) in the air. This continued for a few minutes until she crashed into a heap and slept. She is still sleeping where she collapsed. Total time of seizure activity 38 minutes. Will give her a bath later and clean her up and take her to the vet first thing in the morning.

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Quivers arrived here on: Sept. 1, 2015Ā  the woman said the kitten had been having 3 seizures a day and they didnā€™t know what to do. Eradicating all the damn fleas on this poor baby safely would have been a good start! My feline specialist said it best. It should be criminal for people not to kill fleas where there are so many methods to how they could do this safely. Unfortunately for Quivers, her last owners did not use their heads when it came to her care.

We owe a tremendous amount of monies to the vet right now- tremendous. But despite that, I will do all I can to get her help however this plays out in the end.

On Borrowed Time?

Yesterday, I put Quivers in with the other kittens and instead of ignoring her this time, ALL of them within an hour became extremely aggressive with her. I was in the room cleaning and keeping an eye out so she did not get hurt, but it was disturbing to say the least to watch 9 kittens including sweet Medora become aggressive toward this girl. Medora doesn’t even get aggressive with the catnip toys.

So Quivers is once again roaming the main house and at night, she will sleep in her cage in the living room. But based on the two visits with the other kittens, I suspect that there is something major going on with her. Perhaps her seizures will now be sporadic instead of daily as reported to me before. I don’t know but cats and kittens know when another is in trouble and they will avoid or attack the sickly one.

 

I can’t do bloodwork on her so all I can do is sit back and watch and wait and love her while she is here. One thing is for sure- she has courage and heart and a wonderful purrsonality.

I Feel so Blessed-

I just wanted to share a real blessing that happened this morning. I have been so worried about how I am going to cover the twelve spays/neuters for the kittens in the bedroom. Our vet debt is in the thousands of dollars once again. I wish that were an untruth, but it just the reality of what we are about- taking the hardship cases no one else will touch. It adds up quickly.

I have been deep in prayer for weeks because donations of monies have become almost non-existent of late. This morning, someone called me and she is going to cover all the costs to get the kittens neutered in October! That is a huge deal and the tears are still flowing from me in gratitude. Our vet debt will still remain the same and she wishes to stay anonymous- but she has my heart in a major way. These kittens will now have a chance to move on to loving homes because they are still so young. All the ringworm is cleared up at last as well.

Quivers and Quince

I am always so amazed and tickled when we get cats/kittens in so close to the edge and with just time, vet care and TLC they can turn the corner in wonderful ways. I had been told this kitten has been havingĀ  three seizures a day! She had one when she first got here and none since! Praying that this continues for her. I introduced her to the other healthy kittens this morning and there were some hissing and posturing but I am sure when she is stronger and can hold her own when she is jumped in play, she will do fine. She loves Kitty Krack aka: Fancy Feast and thanks to a wonderful, loving donation of late, I have several cases to offer her.

Tonight I gave her a bath. It took 7 rinses before the water coming off of her stopped turning red. I have never seen so many dead fleas come off a tiny kitten! At least she now has the strength to shiver. I used the blow dryer on her and she is eating now. I am going to give her some black walnut tomorrow to kill the tapeworms. It does the job slowly but it does less damage than the chemicals they would use on her right now that would ultimately kill her. But after all that flea blood and dead fleas she has to be loaded with tapeworms šŸ™

Quincy had an early morning encounter of the smelly kind (Skunk) He got sprayed in the face and mouth (poor boy) I didn’t know what happened and let him in after his early morning pee break and was instantly sorry!Ā  Now the house stinks and the boy has been bathed with pet shampoo, tomato juice and a combination of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dishwashing soap. Because I am here to tell you tomato juice does not work! I did run to Walmart to see if they had any nature’s remedy but they were out. Speaking of out, that is where Quincy is right now- in his pen. I hope this will stop him from stealing the cat food a favorite trick of his- I am sure that is what happened- he stuck his head and nose between the barrier boards to eat the food and found instead Ms. Skunk eating her daily fruits berries and hard boiled eggs- LOLĀ  Poor boy- I gave him a big can of canned dog food- because I know full well what being sprayed in the face with skunk oil is like. People that have never been sprayed don’t understand that this liquid is pure oil and so hard to get rid of. I will give him something later to settle his stomach down as I am sure it is roiling about now.

 

 

“Quivers”

This baby was in rough shape. Covered in fleas, lousy with earmites, her gums looked bled out. I flea combed her and got hundreds of fleas off her. She was ice cold when they delivered her to me. She has been alone on the porch in a cardboard box (no heat) since she was 4 weeks old!Ā  I have dropped her off at the vet and am hoping for the best news but also preparing for the worst. She was so lethargic and refused food and water. Her body is just hammered- she has patches of fur that has been lost for God only knows what reason. Please pray for her-

 

She was quivering the whole time they examined her thus her name change. Here she is sitting upright for the first time since she arrived here:

01quivers

Miracles do happen! They think it might be the fleas and the fact that she is so debilitated that she just has nothing left in her tank. She tested negative for the diseases but they were unable to get more than a few drops of blood because the fleas have took it all! She is back home, she is eating and I am to watch over her and if she does have a seizure I need to put it on video. Problem is, I donā€™t have a video camera. I donā€™t even have a camera anymore. Oh well- at least she is still with us something that surprised even the vet. Said he has never seen so many adult fleas on such a little kitty!

They did give her fluids and a B-12 shot- just pray she keeps eating and gets stronger as the days pass.

 

I have to add, I LOVE seeing fleas die!