Sophie and the gang

[calypso]

Earlier today Jenm said I should start a jingles thread for Sophie, but when I logged on and saw the one for Barb I thought THAT was more important. But now that we know she's okay and home (yay Barb!!) I'll go ahead, as well as update the others.

Well, I need another kitten like....well....not at all. However, this kitten was brought to my neighbor's yard and dumped by her mom a couple days ago. The momcat will abandon a sick kitten in order to save the rest of the litter and that appears to be what happened here.

She's about 1/2 the size she should be - skinny, absolutely covered in flea dirt and crawling with fleas (think ant farm, only with fleas. Yuck!) She had a low temp, severe anemia (from the fleas literally sucking the life outta her), horrible kidney values, and should have been put to sleep. But. Two things. One, one of my own cats came in exactly the same shape. That was 4 years ago and she's been great! And, the little goober was eating like a pig. She's trying to live, so she gets her chance.

We're calling her Sophie, and she could use your prayers and good thoughts. She looks a LOT like Ewok because they are probably cousins!




I've never seen anything so covered with fleas. She's improved slightly since she was admitted. She was actually trying to wash her face, but the IV cath was getting in the way. She's on oxygen in an incubator right now.

Updates:

Louie is eating on his own and starting to gain weight. His ears are no longer floppy - they stand up properly now!

Mickey2 is improving as well. He's on a strong antibiotic and that's doing the trick. We're postponing dental extractions to allow him to put on weight and get his pcv back into normal range.

[Admin]

POOR LITTLE THING. I bet she takes off after all the d**n fleas are gone.
Hugs and prayers for both of you. ;D ;D

[bcfilly]

Awwwwww...think I'm in luv

[earlybp]

Sweet Sophie, I hope you feel better soon.

[gratefulknits]

Ooh, Caly, this poor little darling! When they are this undernourished, is it safe to de-flea them? I could imagine that the flea shampoo might be toxic for her, and yet you'd want those d**n bloodsuckers off her as soon as possible. What do you do?

I'll definitely be keeping this little one in my prayers for speedy return to roly-poly health!

[calypso]

Hope, normally we would not use Advantage on one this small, but she's gonna die if they don't get off her, so we dose with Advantage. Pretty much 1 large drop! She's too weak to bathe - and her body temp was low, so that is a huge risk too. And, you are right, we wouldn't use flea shampoo anyway - just water and mild dishwashing soap. The Advantage starts killing right away, but takes about 24 hours to complete the job. So, lots of fleas nearly dead crawling around - really awful.

So, here's today's update:

So, we named her Sophie. It is a variation of Sophia, which means wisdom, so we'll see how wise this little 'un is at figuring out people are trying to help her!

She's up, alert, eating like a pig, and hissing. :-)

Lisa (vet) thinks the high BUN (in concert with the rest of the values/symptoms) is likely due to high ingestion of blood from her own attempts to groom the fleas/dirt away. Elevated BUN can arise from kidney problems, dehydration, and/or high GI tract bleeding. Her value is SO high - Lisa has never seen one that high accompanied by a normal creatinine. Not likely, although not impossible, that it's due to kidney issues or dehydration at that number. So, most likely blood. From the flea dirt. Ick.

She's still got some other blood problems but they are being monitored. Lisa suggested transfusing her, but since they cannot get enough blood to type & crossmatch it would be a crapshoot, so I nixed that for now. Clinically she's looking good, so we'll try to ride it out. If she starts to crash - either labs or clinically - then I'll revisit that decision.

Last night I was grooming her around the face/head with the flea comb (picking off the dying creepy critters) and she was just loving it. I'll bet it's been weeks since her mom groomed her. She clearly craves touch. Bless her mom for dumping her near the food supply and continuing to check on her, even if she wouldn't go near her. Must be hard to be a momcat. :-(

[swissgrl]

AWE, what a little cutie, she does look very pitiful in that picture.
Glad she's doing better, that is one lucky kitty to have found you!

[barbpurple]

glad to see that she is getting better (as i am ) she and i will be bonded in spirt!! good lil sophie.. get better you are sure a sweetie!

[agilitygal]

Oh, dear. That's an uphill battle. I'm with you. When the show a will to live, give them that chance. Hugs from me.

[calypso]

Just came back from Adobe. Good news and not so good. Her bun is normal (16) so now we're not sure the 139 was a good number. And her pcv is now dropped to 10. But clinically she looks good, so I'm not sure I believe that number.

She was eating when I got there. She's been eating pretty much non-stop today. So, of course, she's got the squirts big time. I think it'll be a balancing act cause she's pretty emaciated. She needs the calories, but overfeeding kittens results in diarrhea, which leads to dehydration. sigh.

With the pcv so low, I've opted to keep her there on O2 at 50% and watch and see what happens over the next 24 hours. She's looking better, but is still touch-and-go.

The fleas are dead and gone, thank God. But, she's caked in flea dirt. I combed her for quite awhile and washed her face again (with wet gauze). She just eats it up. And I feel like I combed about a pound of dirt off her skin. Ick!

The staff tells me she quite feisty. I believe it. When I opened the incubator and said hello she looked at me and hissed. :-)

[calypso]

I washed her face again tonight with wet gauze. (rough - feels more like mom's tongue!) and got her cleaner. I just want to give her a bath and get all the flea dirt OFF, but her pcv is still too low and we don't want to shock/chill her. But, she's getting cleaner - a bit at a time. It must feel incredible to have all those fleas off her. Poor sweet baby!

She's more subdued tonight. I tell myself it's night time and she's tired, but I'm not entirely convinced. I'll be much happier when we get another pcv or two with better numbers!!

[barbpurple]

glad to see she is improving even a little.. i want her to get better.. maybe she can be adopted out later on,,cough cough..hummmmm

[calypso]

oh yeah, she is SO going to be up for adoption!!

Sophie is home. She came home last night from the hospital. No fleas. Her pcv is up to 19 (still low, but liveable. And, shows the anemia is regenerative which is great cause she doesn't have enough excess blood to pull a full CBC!). She's got a very bad attitude. I can't say as I blame her - life has not been easy so far.