Cat Rescue and Adoption - Sheffield

Tiny Chloe came in to us via the vets. She only looked about 4 weeks of age and weighed in at just over 500g - however her eyes were beginning to change colour, she had plenty of teeth and was showing behavioural signs of a cat much older than just 4 weeks of age. She gained little weight in the first week she was with us so she was taken straight back to the vets. On examination it was suggested that Chloe might have a portosystemic shunt - an expensive operation at around £1500 and even then the prognosis was only 'fair'. A portosystemic shunt is an abnormal vessel that allows blood to bypass the liver while the kitten is in the womb, however this vessel should then shut down several days after birth. Initially Chloe was syringe fed 4 times a day as she was a very poor eater.

October 2006 - At the beginning of October we returned to the vets. Unfortunately her progress had been poor as far as any weight gain was concerned as a normal healthy kitten would put on over 100g per week. Chloe had only managed just over 300g in four weeks. She now needed to be fed every 2 hours for the next month in an attempt to increase her weight. Her target weight was 1kg, although 1.2kg would be ideal. Friday the 13th was just that as Chloe lost 20g overnight followed by a further 30g loss on Saturday. She was taken back to the vets first thing Saturday for a course of antibiotics as she seemed to have picked up a tummy bug. By the following Friday, 20 October she has reached her first target weight of 1kg. Mid week she started to loose weight again despite being fed a very concentrated prescription diet. I then decided to see if she would eat on her own (prolonged syringe feeding can lead to its own problems from a behavioural point of view) - after a few days the clear favourite was Whiskas Oh So Meaty and Oh So Fishy. But then true to form after a few days she would not touch either. However, having been left to her own devices she is showing an interest in certain foods.

November 2006 - back at the vets. The good news is that it is now looking unlikely that she has a shunt as she looks so well and is very livley. She sat and gazed adoringly at the vet as he held her in his arms like a little baby! He says she is in lovely condition and apart from her poor weight gain she appears fit and well. We will now wait a further month to see how she progresses under her own steam. At the moment we have are on Almo Nature chicken, tuna and salmon - nothing but the best for little miss Princess Chloe! Mid November and her progress is very poor although she remains like a little whirlwind! This week we have decided that we will only eat Felix in jelly - so madam really is living up to her nickname of Princess Chloe! Our monthly trip to the vet and we remain optimistic. Despite her small stature she appears well - her coat is glossy and there is no lack of energy - especially when her first vaccine was administered! She didn't like it one little bit and was not sitting still for anyone! It is agreed that blood tests will be run at the beginning of January 2007.

December 2006 and she has a little tummy upset resulting in some weight loss during the second week. On the plus side she has found a new pillow under the guise of Eddie who seems happy to let her sleep all over him!

January 2007 Chloe is spayed along with her friends Maisie and Tilly. However when we get home Chloe collapses and has to be rushed back to the vets for oxygen and fluids. A couple of hours later we are home and I am wondering if she has a problem with her liver and it was unable to cope with the anaesthetic. A week later my fears are confirmed she does indeed have a liver problem but the vet is uanble to be specific. We are unlikely to be able to find the treatment for her in Sheffield and would have to start looking further afield to places that have the latest equipment. The possibility remains that she may have a shunt. Any treatment will necessiate a further general anaesthetic. The more invasive the surgery the longer she will be sedated and the higher the chance that we will lose her. I phone Eileen to let her know that will not be able to rehome Chloe to her and she will stay permanently with us. Eileen is obviously very disappointed.

February 2007 - Linda & Kelvyn, James and me discuss Chloe's future. After a further consultation with the vet we decide that any further treatment is far too risky. To all intensive purposes she appears fit and healthy. She will now go on a diet of l/d which will support her liver. She is also allowed fresh meat and fish. The less preservatives and chemicals she has to cope with the better. The function of the liver is to filter out the toxins in the body so we will ensure that she does not have to cope with these. Scanning the websites for alternatives I find www.simplyk9.co.uk I just add a couple of drops of D-Tox to some water and syringe her daily to help support the liver.

March 2007 - A trip to the vets for a general check over and some advice on flea treatment it was decided that Frontline was a bit too toxic for her system on a monthly basis so we have opted for the Program injection instead. As usual she refused to be examined prefering to run up mum's jumper and sit on my shoulder - but to no avail - she still got the jab! With all her little friends now departed she has found a new friend in Milly. They love chasing each other up and down the stairs and in and out of the cat flap. The cat pen has been revamped so they have been exploring all the boxes together. Cheeky little Chloe will wait until Milly has 'finished' with one of the sleeping boxes and as she comes out, little Princess goes in to a nicely warmed cushion!

April 2007 - At last!! Chloe has just managed to creep over the 2kg mark, weighing in at 2.1kg on the 1st April! My efforts to try and work with Smudgie amount to nothing as little madam has already realised that once someone is either in a bed, or just come out of one - it is very snug and warm. She has no manners and uses poor Smudgie and something to put her feet on. Despite her best efforts Smudgie stood her ground and would not budge! A new little black and white kitten is on the scene and at the moment Little Miss Madam doesn't quite know what to make of her!

May 2007 - It looks as if we may have peaked at just over 2kg. No improvement this month but new friendships have been sealed. Here Sophie has the upper hand as she puts her feet up on Chloe who looks distinctly unamused as was poor Smudgie only a few weeks ago! How things have changed!! Having got over the fact that she was no longer the 'baby' of the family - Princess has taken Sophie under her wing teaching her all the wrong things to do rather than the right - so why I am surprised!

June 2007 - Chloe seems to have reached her maximum weight at just over 2kg. Her little friend Sophie has caught up with her this month too. The pair continue to be up to no good - led by you know who.

July 2007 - Chloe gives us quite a scare - a temperature of over 104 and one very poorly little puss. Fortunately she recovers just as quickly as she became ill! This month Sophie and Chloe find the great outdoors. Sophie is the sensible one - treating the garden like a Formula 1 racing track and whizzing around.   Princess on the other hand tries her skills at climbing as high up as you can get - fine if its a tree - but when its the holly bush - you're on your own - you got up there - you find your way down! You chase the birds - they lure you to the top of the holly bush - now who's laughing!

August 2007 - These two little monkeys continue to enjoy the outdoor life. Chloe has still not learnt her lesson and continues to climb to ridiculous heights for such a small thing! Sophie on the other hand seems to keep her paws safely on the ground! We did have our first catch - a poor little bird, and attempts by Mum and Tom to save the little thing amounted to nothing as Chloe showed a never before seen aggresive side to that usually sweet cute little demeanour of hers. She'd caught it and she was sharing it with NO ONE! Then one night she stayed out way beyond the curfew and mum was frantic with worry. Then from nowhere there was the unmissable chirrup and with a bound she was over the fence and running towards me.

September 2007 - Living life to the full, although Prinie did have a little set to with one of our neighbours cats. I could hear all this noise and went to investigate and there he was bullying our little Princess and for once she did not appear to be able to stand up for herself. I picked her up and stared at the offender who just stared back! So I took Prin indoors and went back out again to sort the imposter out. No need! Quiet little Smudgie was in there and telling him in no uncertain terms that he should pick on someone his own size! Enough said! All I saw was a black and white bottom hastily retreating over the garden fence!

October 2007 - Hi everyone it’s me Princess Chloe I now have a new responsibility here as I am taking over from Tom as he is poorly and going in to retirement on the Cat Sponsorship Scheme. I don’t really know where to start as I have so much to tell you! I have my friend Sophie and we go on adventures together, although Soph is not quite as adventurous as me.   I climbed right up high the other day in the bushes and shouted down to Soph ‘Look at me right up here’ - she said I was very silly and how was I going to get down - good point I’d not thought about that! I started crying to let mum know that I was stuck and first of all she didn’t see me. ‘Up here, up here’ I wailed. Prinie!!!!! She scolded. Get down now. Well silly mum, if I could get down I wouldn’t be shouting her would I!!! I eventually started to make my own way down - I was nearly as tall as a house, and then mum guided me over to the roof of the cat pen and I jumped on there and then down the shelves at the side and in to her arms. Crisis averted. Phew I was glad to get down I can tell you - it was high up there - I don’t know how the birds do it - birds, oh yes, that’s why I’d gone up there. The birds were saying to me - ‘Prinie up here, Prinie here’ and I just kept climbing and climbing. When I got there they all laughed at me and flew off! Then a big cat that lives two doors down was being perfectly horrid to me. I hissed at him ‘I’m a Princess’ but he wouldn’t budge and he wouldn’t let me get past either! I needed mum again ‘MUM’!!!! Thank goodness - Ha! What you going to do now big boy! Mum stared at him but he just stared back at mum! He’s cheeky isn’t he, she said to me, carrying me indoors for safety and then suddenly........WHAT WAS THAT????? Only quiet, timid, little Smudgie going in for the kill! She had obviously been watching from a distance and was stalking him - ‘GET OUT OF OUR GARDEN AND LEAVE PRINIE ALONE’ - and he was gone! Good old Smudgie - who’d have thought it!!

January 2008 - I have been a little poorly recently - nothing serious, fortunately Mum is very much on the ball when it comes to her feline friends and she spotted that my mouth had a tiny sore on it - so tiny in fact that the vet had a problem seeing it to start off with, but there it was. Apparently it’s called a rodent ulcer - but has nothing to do with catching rats or mice. I had to have a little injection but I made sure that I over reacted and then gave it the full monty panic attack, panting harder than a dog in labour! But nobody seemed to notice and they just popped me back in my carrying case - so no Oscars for that performance then. Then a few weeks later it was my turn for a booster and injection for fleas - not that I have fleas of course, being a Princess! Well you would have been proud of me! I jumped straight out of the carrier and into Mum’s arms and clung on to her coat for dear life. Ha! I thought! Let’s see you get out of this one then! But they did! The vet said don’t worry, just hold her and I’ll inject her while she is on your shoulder - and she did! Then to add insult to injury I had to have a worm tablet - what an absolute disgrace and an infringement on my civil rights! I was so disgusted I forget to have a panic attack! As soon as my Dad came home I made sure he knew I was very upset and he spoilt and loved me, because I am his little Princess - I can do whatever I want with him and he over rules Mum! I have had a lot to occupy me over the last few months, we went from three kittens, to eight and then ten! Mum’s fault, apparently she was muttering to Auntie Linda something about not having any kittens in now for the rest of the year and looking forward to some peace and quiet - well that didn’t happen! The great thing about kittens is that there is always someone to fight with! Then Raffles got this most superb huge bed for Christmas!! Not that he can sleep in it because I get in it - but Mum turfs me out of it - who does she think she is - and then puts me in the kitchen with all the other cats! Uncle Tom has a very special cushion on the work surface, so the little ones don’t disturb him, but I can get up there too! The other day she came in to check he was okay and I got told off again - because not only was I spread out across his cushion - but I’d got my feet up on him! Well he didn’t mind - he was asleep anyway!

April 2008 - Well I’ve been a little unwell again. We’ve had an eye infection that seems to be doing the rounds and when it was my turn I got treated with tablets and eye cream. Dad wrapped me in a towel and Mum gave me the tablet - which of course I pretended was as huge as a rock and she was chocking me to death, and the eye cream - which I pretended she was pocking my eye out with a sharp stick. I then got taken for a check up and got the all the clear, only for it to start in my other eye a few days later. So another five days of eye cream. This time touch wood it seems to have cleared up! Then the other day when I came in from the garden I’d got a rather dirty little bottom and Mum shouted Dad to come and help her. She put me in the bath (no water I might add) and then cleaned me up with a damp face cloth. Suffice to safe I managed the panting and hysteria once I got out the bath 20 seconds later. Mum was not at all sympathetic telling me not to be so silly - it was all over and what was I panicking about! Not sure really - but worth an Oscar I thought! So I just scowled at her and looked down my nose. Fortunately Daddy was a lot more caring and sat with me for a few minutes - works every time with him, I can wrap him round my tiny paw! Sometimes I can give him one of my really pathetic little meows - you know the ones - where hardly anything comes out, and then he will come and pick me up because I can’t be bothered to walk across the room. When he is making his sandwiches in the morning I sit on the work surface - not when Mum’s around obviously - then I give him the sweetest look ever and he gives me a bit of ham or cheese. He’s such a soft touch! You know I really am his little Princess Prinie Prin! It’s gone very quiet here now all the kittens have gone and some kind of normality has been restored! Not really anyone left to have any rough and tumble with what with everyone else here being so much bigger than me. Daddy’s home - time to push Mum off the settee so Dad and me can have some quality time! It’s time she was making our tea anyway!