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[RedwoodsMama]

 I love  animals  @<and esp I have a fondness for cats, having nine of them. All of my animals, including my dog are rescues. Karl Kat is a big beautiful Brown and white tortie that I rescued as a "throw away or lost cat", in the Summer of 2009. It came at a time I had just lost a matter of days before, my beautiful little black and white Tuxedo Kitten, Paco. Paco had to be euthanized because of a fatal cat disease, FIP. He died the same day Michael Jackson died, June 9th, 2009, a day I will allways remember. I had no time to spend grieving as this cat came into my life very needy and very sick.

              He was down to about 7 lbs, skinny, dirty, and a huge abcess on his jaw lower neck area, most likely caused by fighting over food.At the same time I had about four to five other stray cats I have been feeding on a daily basis.If I had not of caught and rescued Karl, he would have starved to death in a week at the most, he was a pitiful sight and the abcess was also infected and his mouth made it almost impossible to eat. To make the story shorter, he was caught, taken to the vets, his abcess fixed in a surgical procedure., then neutered and rather then put  back out into the alley with the other cats I fed, I decided to keep him and give it a go. I fell in love and he proved to be a very gentle loving cat. After the abcess healed, his mouth still made it difficult to eat and he was diagnosed with Stomatis, a feline condition that is VERY painful and has no cure. Cats drool excessively, have very difficult to eat, paw at their mouth as if a foreign body is in their mouth and many cats die from starvation because they just give up.l He was on steroid injections for a long time to help with the inflamation and pain. HE  then had all but the four canines removed to try to help. ( Expensive...) This winter the steroids began to no longer work and he looked pitiful and in pain.It was decided to remove the last of his teeth, the four canines in a last ditch effort to help him and ease the pain. The pain is so bad that in a matter of ten days while waiting for his surgery, he went from 12 lbs 12 oz to 11 lbs 15 oz, almost 1 lb in ten days! That is a lot for a cat this size, I am sure if it had gone another two weeks he would be dead of starvation. So Monday, June 18'th he had surgery. Three of his canines were removed badly infected as wel. The vet left one lower canine as it was the only one not infected and he scaled it and cleaned it the best he could to rid any bacteria. There is a long story to go with this, but the video speaks for itself. He continues to be in pain and the video at the 1 minutes 45 second mark and on see the poor guy paw at his mouth in a desparate attempt to remove what he thinks is still in his mouth, I had to go get liquid pain meds to day as he is starving and can not eat because of the pain. After one dose, he finally ate a few mouthfuls of "mush' cat food this evening. I hope any of you who have cats never have to face this terrible cat disease, It is extremely painful and so heart breaking to see your cat suffer like this. The vet also found a spot on his tongure, (under ) that looked like raw hamburger... H e had never seen it before , but then again you would not unless the cat was sedated. I am hoping it will clear up now that the surgery is over and not turn out to  be a sarcoma which is terminal...you can not remove a cat's tongue. Please keep happy thoughts for my Karl Kat that he recovers and this "thing " under his tongue heals and is not cancer...he has been through so so much and is still a young cat.                         <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rbNDwyng0E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rbNDwyng0E</a>        Excuse any dark quality to the video, it was late and I edited this quickly, no music or anything, sorry for not being able to read all the introduction, that is why I have explained it here.                               RWM and Karl Kat

[RedwoodsMama]

  Great New.. after six long days and nights, bloody mouth and paw, drooling fountain from his mouth and sad sad look, Karl Kat is over the "hump" and making a improvement. He was put on prednisone every day , Pain meds, and yesterday, Friday June 22'nd, started on a course of antibiotics. He looked dehydrated and very very sick and uncomfortable, and I was resigned to the fact I may "lose" my kitty, he may have given up and not be able to fight anymore, this last surgery was too much and too painful for him. But cats are fighters, He drank for about 5 minutes straight last night, and I hand fed him pieces of meat... ( despit only having one fang and no molars or other teeth to eat with, he does fine...) and he looked rested for the first time in five long days last night and I breathed a sigh of relief. Since Monday the day he had surgery, I was on the phone at least two to three times a day and to the vets both Thursday to get some pain meds for him and then yesterday for anitibiotics. I was in tears yesterday, thinking he had crawled off somewhere to die, as cats hide when in pain and I could not find him anywhere, Suddenly last night he appeared out of nowhere sitting in my computer chair! He had probably been asleep above the bed the whole time and just ignored me when I spent five hours at least looking for him yesterday. Cats know how to be quiet and not answer...

 So here is a look at how a healthier Karl Kat interacted with my Pleo a couple of years ago, and how he will soon look now that he is on the road to recovery.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0N181L50io" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0N181L50io</a>            Thank you for your thouoghts and well wishes for him, I needed to vent my pain and frustration and had nowhere else to post but here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Mly cats mean EVERYTHING to me!                     RWM

[Crewella]

 No worries, RWM - I'm so pleased to hear he seems to be turning a corner.  I know how worried I was about Alpha going blind. 

[kat]

Yes it is great to hear he seems to be on the mend     

[Margery]

So pleased he seems to be on the mend. 

[RedwoodsMama]

 Another setback as if Karl did not have enough 'crap" to deal with. Now the vet is saying that Karl may have cancer of the mouth,under his tonuge,because of the pain he is in and not responding to the "usual " treatment. Karl Kat has been through so much and it kills me to see him go through this ...the pain is what drives me to tears and not being able or wanting to even eat. My cats mean everything to me, and living in a small but beautiful area has it's drawbacks, and lack of vet care is at the top of the list for sure.

              Not everyone likes cats but most people like animals and nobody wants to see another creature in pain. If everyone who reads this can please keep positive thoughts for Karl Kat and being pain free and on the mend, it is all I can ask.I am doing everything I can at my end to make it better for him, and even getting ready to give him anti cancer herbal tonics that have been proven to stop and even reverse cancer in people and pets, so I just need some pain free moments to get them down him.                                    Thank you from both of us.. RWM and Karl Kat

[Margery]

So sorry to hear what you're both going through.  Thinking of you both.

[RedwoodsMama]

 I thought I would update everyone on my Karl kat and his update since surgery on his mouth to help a very very painful mouth conditon known as Stomatitis. He had surgery on June 18th, ( almost 3 weeks ago) It has been a very slow process getting him back to feeling ok. For awhile he looked the worse I have ever seen him since first being rescued in August of 2009 when he was down to 7 lbs and had a huge abcess on his mouth, neck lower jaw.  He then got neutered, his abcess was surgically repaired and he was diagnosed with Stomatitis. In 2010, all his teeth except the four canines were removed in an attempt to keep the inflamation in his mouth to a minimum, and started on steroid injections as needed. This past January they quit working and that is when it was decided, ( early June this year) that his canines needed to come out.  He had the two upper canines removed which were pretty inflamed and the bottom right because it was infected. He has one left and the vet left it in as bottom canines are very difficult to remove unless the teeth are loose, and there is a great danger in breaking the cat's lower jaw, ( because it is so small) Cats do not do well with a broken jaw and having to h ave their mouth wired shut, that would have been a sure death sentence.             I am now keeping my fingers crossed that this relieves his pain long lasting . He is on every other day Steroids , ( Prednizone) and a herbal anti cancer liquid tea mix that is well used on animals and people. IN fact my husband has been taking it twice a day now for the past week and we are also starting it on two other cats, our oldest Tortie female who has kidney disease and the second oldeest who may have Hyperthryroidism as well.   Except for some mild drooling , Karl looks like his old self.

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                Thanks everyone for all your well wishes for him.                  RWM and Karl Kat and the Redwoods Pleos

[Crewella]

So glad to see him looking more himself. 

[InmemoryofRomeo]

My Lucky sympathizes with him, he is also a member of the drool club.

[kat]

It's great to see him looking a little more like his old self.  Fingers crossed he keeps getting better and better everyday

[Lottibell]

  Glad Karl is doing well. What's a little drool between friends? 

[Margery]

It's a relief to hear about his improvement.  Do hope he gets better and better.

[Talon]

That's good to hear, Redwoods. I hope he will improve soon and have the best life possible.
Talon

[RedwoodsMama]

Thanks Talon, Margary, Lotti, IMR and Crewella, and anyone else who has read this, He is improving step by step . Now that he seems to be improving, I am now faced with another feline emergency. Our second oldest feline, Lei-LU, our small tortie mom who is only about 6.8 lbs, was drinking lots and lots of water and peeing all the time, so I thought perhaps Hyperthryoidism as she is also small and allways hungery, good  appetite. Well last night my husband commented that she looked like she did not feel good. I thought she was just having an "off" day like we all do occasionally.

     This morning I noticed her straining to urinate and only a few blood tinged drops comming out, but every ten minutes or so she is going pee. So this is or can be a life threatening emergency if blocked, luckily she is not a male who have a lot higher incidence of urinary blockages and a shorter uretha passage as well, ( they form tiny crystals of what look like sand and you can actualy "unplug" a male, if they are sick enough they will let you.
          so more than likely it is a lower track urinary tract infection or bladder, ( better than kidney at  least...) so I called the vets right away and she has a 3:00 p.m, vets appt. ( My husband is at work, so luckily I have a friend who can pick us up an take us to the vets..So it is 12;40 p.m, here, PST, so about 2  1/2 hours to go,
             Keep your fingers crossed that it is nothing serious and she can get fixed easily, I forgot to mention that she is about 15-16 years old, so with one cat (17-18 years old, Aiffa another Tortie and the oldest) Karl Kat with having just had surgery for his mouth in Mid June, now I am facing another cat crisis and my pocket book is getting slimmer and slimmer...Luckily the other 6 cats seem all healthy and two just had their annual rabies vaccine and one ARthritic sweet dog, geesh...
 feels overwhelming sometimes.  :pray:Crewella, I know you can understand what I feel like having gone through your own cat crisis this past year.  So if anyone has a finger or two to cross and some well wishes for Lei-Lu, please think of us at 3;00 p.m and all day and night for that fact. It is much appreciated...Guess I can safely say,,,No counting of Pleos today.........................RWM and the Pleo Cat Clan of the Redwoods

[Crewella]

All  fingers, toes, paws and hooves (Chinook the 220 Aibo) crossed in this house for her.   

[RedwoodsMama]

 
Crewella , thank you so much. Only  one hour to go till her appt, Right now she is sleeping so I do not know if that is good or bad... ???but I am leaving her be, no sense in gettting her disturbed. LUckilly she peed where I could collect a blood tinged sample. I do hope they don't try running up a huge vet bill either, I just paid over $500.00 just for Karl Kat's surgery and then almost $100.00 for his pain meds, steroids and antibiotics. Then last week it was two cats with rabies vaccines which are not expensive at all and the one vaccination I insist my babies get, no cure for Rabies and a death sentence if bitten..

           I will let everyone know what happens at the vets. Thank goodness my friend can pick me up and take me there, the only inconvience of not driving and my husband is out of town, ( work) and won't get back till about 4;30. I do not think she could last till tommorow by putting it off if nothing else, because of her age. She is frail at only 6 lbs and a very quiet lady cat, except for her "LOUD SNORING" 
 Here are two photos from last year, she is yawning or saying something in one, hence her mouth open. These are the only photos nearby that I could find.

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            Thanks for having Chinnook cross his paws too.                                   RWM  on behalf of Lei-Lu, named after the character in The Fifth Element movie.