Claudia has been hospitalized multiple times, is currently hospitalized now and Mama received surgery for intestinal resection and anastomosis. Our bill for both so far is closing in on $6,000. They have been treated at Alta Vista Veterinary Hospital at 602.277.1464 as well as Emergency Animal Clinic at 602.995.3757.
Rescue story: We rescued a cat in February that was deemed feral. Turned out she wasn't but surprise! She was pregnant. She gave birth to a beautiful litter on Valentine's Day. A month later, we were contacted by another rescue friend about a litter of kittens being turned in to Maricopa County Animal Care & Control. The person was told County would euthanize them so we took them in. Mama accepted the new babies right away and they all became one big happy family. One of the new siblings started pooping blood and died at the vet overnight. We started getting worried about sweet Claudia as her siblings were growing much larger than she was. But she was keeping up with everyone!
On April 18th, we woke up to a very sick Mama. We took her and the three adopted kittens in and they were all diagnosed with upper respiratory infections. After a few days of treatment, they all cleared up but it was decided that it was time to start weaning the kittens. Two days later, Claudia and her siblings were looking dumpy. We took all three in and during their overnight stay, the biggest of the three, Huggy Bear (named for sleeping on top of the cuddle puddle and always going in for bear hugs) died out of nowhere. We were devastated. Doc told us that she was pretty sure we were going to lose Claudia and recommended another overnight stay.
Nervous that they wouldn't be a doctor after hours (vet techs are there throughout the night), we transferred everyone, including Mama, to EAC around 10pm. We were told to euthanize Claudia immediately. Louis was doing fine, and they wanted to hospitalize Mama. Claudia's temperature and glucose levels were so low, they couldn't even get readings on either, and her heart rate had dropped to 82,0 when it should have been in the high 100s. We couldn't do it though. What if she got better?? Sure enough, we got a call at 9am saying that they were shocked to see how well she was doing. That Mama was ready to be picked up but that they wanted to keep Claudia until 5pm at the earliest.
As we got to EAC, Mama was in the room with us and started projectile vomiting extremely foul-smelling liquid all over the office. Concerned, we opted to keep her there and do X-rays. X-rays found lots and lots of poop so they started her on an enema regiment. They weren't helping. Doc recommended exploratory surgery at that point. We transferred her BACK to Alta Vista where they opened her up and found that her small intestines were telescoping in on themselves and a foot long area had died and was rotting inside her abdomen. They were able to remove the section, reconnect the intestines and she is doing quite well four days post surgery.
Claudia, however, is not. She really went downhill tonight and we rushed her to Alta Vista and same thing, temp of 92°F which is ten degrees lower than it should be, and glucose levels so low that they couldn't even get a reading. They stabilized her and once again, we transferred her to EAC, and again, received a $960 bill for her tonight. We may be crazy but we have to try. She is stable and perkier now but remaining hospitalized for the night through to tomorrow morning minimum. The problem we're having is that bloodworm can't be done as she's so weak and small, weighing in at a 4 ounces at 6 wks old.
We may be fighting a losing battle. We just don't know. But when we feed her every hour and she climbs into the nook of our necks and purrs her little heart out, we know we can't give up. Anything donated would just be so greatly appreciated.
Please visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SAILRescue to see some of our previous rescues!