Last year at our old house, two stray cats showed up. They were both very sweet, and they were both VERY pregnant. We kept them in our garage until they had their kittens (9 in total), and then we moved them with us to our new house this past summer. They were both spayed as well.
One of the cats, Momma, is a roamer. She will dart inside the house, but no sooner is she inside than she wants back out to explore. We might go two or three weeks without seeing her, then she shows back up randomly one day wanting love. Soxie, on the other hand, is OUR cat. She hardly ever leaves the yard, though she will occasionally go hunting in the woods. She is always there to greet us when we get home, and she constantly brings us mice, birds, and other small animals.
Last Saturday, I was outside with our puppy, and Soxie hopped up on the porch with me wanting some love. She was in a great mood - rubbing all over me and purring like crazy. Late into the evening I could see her on our front porch lying in her favorite rocking chair. When I went to bed at 3:00 a.m., she was still there.
Sunday afternoon my husband and I returned home from lunch and some errands, and he decided he was going to work outside for a while. When he went out to the garage, he could hear one of the cats yowling in the back of it. We sifted through some boxes, and found that Soxie had wedged herself in a back corner and was yowling and crying like crazy. When we moved the boxes, she came out on her own, and we noticed that she wasn't walking right. He left rear leg was swollen, and she was walking like she was drunk. She just kept screaming; it was an awful sound. My husband picked her up and she let him cradle her like a baby, which she never does. She reeked of dead animal, and she was muddy. I can tell you that this cat is normally immaculate - she takes extremely good care of herself, and most people are surprised she's an outdoor cat because of how clean she is. Around that time, my husband noticed a wound on her front leg, and he tried to hide it from me so I wouldn't get any more upset than I already was. The wound itself wasn't too bad - the maggots in it were. She also had maggots on her hind end as well. We were afraid she was too far gone; she had started to drift off in my husband's arms. I called the e-vet, and we were on our way with her.
I checked her every 2 minutes in the car to make sure she was still with us. She slept the entire way. We finally arrived at the clinic, and after we turned her over to their very capable staff, we played the waiting game. We spoke with the vet, and she told us that the prognosis was very poor. Not only was Soxie half-dead, she was having neurological issues as well. Her pupils were not responding, and she was exhibiting "inappropriate" behavior - paranoia, staring off into space, lack of focus, etc. We were warned that the chances were very slim at best.
We went home that night and talked about it. We decided that we would see how she was the next morning and decide what to do - keep trying or let her go. My husband works the third shift at a place not far from the e-vet, so he stopped by. She didn't look good at all. They had cleaned her wounds, but she was nearly comatose. Upset, he told her that if she was ready to go, it was okay - that we wouldn't be mad at her. Right after he said that, she lifted her head and tried to stand. To my husband, this clearly meant she wasn't done fighting.
Monday night, she wasn't doing any better, and we were ready to face that hard decision again on Tuesday morning. I called the e-vet to check on her on my way to work, and surprisingly, she was significantly better. She had eaten some food on her own, and she had some water to drink. She was even responding more to stimuli, and her neurological symptoms were slowly getting better.
Yesterday morning, she was even better than the day before. The vets are completely stumped. When she went in on Sunday, they ran tests for just about every serious disease they could test for, and all came back negative. They ran two tests for ethylene glycol, and one was negative (negative is the definite, positive means maybe). The only test that hasn't come back yet is for toxoplasmosis, and we expect that back today. The neurologist told me flat out that they have no idea what happened to her, and they have no idea how she got so much better so quickly having such serious issues. The possibility of a toxin is low - all of her organ systems are working fine (though her white blood cell count was low). She could have been hit in the head, had a hematoma, and it could be resolving itself. She could have toxoplasmosis, and the meds they put her on worked well and quickly. We may never know. While she's not 100% yet, the chances of her being the same old Soxie after this are very good, which considering the condition we found her in, is nothing short of amazing.
We can bring Soxie home this afternoon, but we might have them keep her until tomorrow morning just to be safe. She had to undergo anesthesia yesterday so they could repair her wounds, and she came out from under that fine.
I cannot believe that two incredibly horrific incidents have happened to our fur/scale family in the past year, and I REALLY can't believe that both of those have turned out amazingly well. I wanted to share this story to demonstrate that sometimes, even though things look terribly grim, the best outcome is possible as long as you have faith (and extremely good vets don't hurt either!)
One of the cats, Momma, is a roamer. She will dart inside the house, but no sooner is she inside than she wants back out to explore. We might go two or three weeks without seeing her, then she shows back up randomly one day wanting love. Soxie, on the other hand, is OUR cat. She hardly ever leaves the yard, though she will occasionally go hunting in the woods. She is always there to greet us when we get home, and she constantly brings us mice, birds, and other small animals.
Last Saturday, I was outside with our puppy, and Soxie hopped up on the porch with me wanting some love. She was in a great mood - rubbing all over me and purring like crazy. Late into the evening I could see her on our front porch lying in her favorite rocking chair. When I went to bed at 3:00 a.m., she was still there.
Sunday afternoon my husband and I returned home from lunch and some errands, and he decided he was going to work outside for a while. When he went out to the garage, he could hear one of the cats yowling in the back of it. We sifted through some boxes, and found that Soxie had wedged herself in a back corner and was yowling and crying like crazy. When we moved the boxes, she came out on her own, and we noticed that she wasn't walking right. He left rear leg was swollen, and she was walking like she was drunk. She just kept screaming; it was an awful sound. My husband picked her up and she let him cradle her like a baby, which she never does. She reeked of dead animal, and she was muddy. I can tell you that this cat is normally immaculate - she takes extremely good care of herself, and most people are surprised she's an outdoor cat because of how clean she is. Around that time, my husband noticed a wound on her front leg, and he tried to hide it from me so I wouldn't get any more upset than I already was. The wound itself wasn't too bad - the maggots in it were. She also had maggots on her hind end as well. We were afraid she was too far gone; she had started to drift off in my husband's arms. I called the e-vet, and we were on our way with her.
I checked her every 2 minutes in the car to make sure she was still with us. She slept the entire way. We finally arrived at the clinic, and after we turned her over to their very capable staff, we played the waiting game. We spoke with the vet, and she told us that the prognosis was very poor. Not only was Soxie half-dead, she was having neurological issues as well. Her pupils were not responding, and she was exhibiting "inappropriate" behavior - paranoia, staring off into space, lack of focus, etc. We were warned that the chances were very slim at best.
We went home that night and talked about it. We decided that we would see how she was the next morning and decide what to do - keep trying or let her go. My husband works the third shift at a place not far from the e-vet, so he stopped by. She didn't look good at all. They had cleaned her wounds, but she was nearly comatose. Upset, he told her that if she was ready to go, it was okay - that we wouldn't be mad at her. Right after he said that, she lifted her head and tried to stand. To my husband, this clearly meant she wasn't done fighting.
Monday night, she wasn't doing any better, and we were ready to face that hard decision again on Tuesday morning. I called the e-vet to check on her on my way to work, and surprisingly, she was significantly better. She had eaten some food on her own, and she had some water to drink. She was even responding more to stimuli, and her neurological symptoms were slowly getting better.
Yesterday morning, she was even better than the day before. The vets are completely stumped. When she went in on Sunday, they ran tests for just about every serious disease they could test for, and all came back negative. They ran two tests for ethylene glycol, and one was negative (negative is the definite, positive means maybe). The only test that hasn't come back yet is for toxoplasmosis, and we expect that back today. The neurologist told me flat out that they have no idea what happened to her, and they have no idea how she got so much better so quickly having such serious issues. The possibility of a toxin is low - all of her organ systems are working fine (though her white blood cell count was low). She could have been hit in the head, had a hematoma, and it could be resolving itself. She could have toxoplasmosis, and the meds they put her on worked well and quickly. We may never know. While she's not 100% yet, the chances of her being the same old Soxie after this are very good, which considering the condition we found her in, is nothing short of amazing.
We can bring Soxie home this afternoon, but we might have them keep her until tomorrow morning just to be safe. She had to undergo anesthesia yesterday so they could repair her wounds, and she came out from under that fine.
I cannot believe that two incredibly horrific incidents have happened to our fur/scale family in the past year, and I REALLY can't believe that both of those have turned out amazingly well. I wanted to share this story to demonstrate that sometimes, even though things look terribly grim, the best outcome is possible as long as you have faith (and extremely good vets don't hurt either!)
