Feelin' fine...

Zorro had his post surgery check up today and everything looks good after 2 weeks! His sutures are taking a bit longer than expected to heal, so he will be spoiled with wet food for at least another week. I think he's sick of it though, he's ready to go back to his dry food.

The vet showed me how the hole is all closed up, it's pretty amazing. He has been drinking from Prudences' water dish with no problems, it was hard not to choke up the first time he did it to be honest. (Another crazy cat lady moment)

We figured he would be hurtin after his surgery but we had to keep him from running around, he was happy to be home.  We are happy to have him, especially healthy. It's crazy to think how bad of shape he was in just a few months ago.

Thank you again to everyone who has cared, donated, and/or spread the word. We have the best friends and family. We never imagined that we could pull this off, but everyone showed up for us and the little man and it's greatly appreciated. You all truly have saved his life. :)

We are so very very very close....

Hello all.
It's been a little while. I have to say it's hard to have inspiration when he's being such a stinker. ;) We can definitely tell he's feeling a little better now. Also, I've noticed how much bigger he has gotten; making him curious about everything new he can reach by leaping. It still amazes me how much his growth was stunted. He still isn't as big as his brothers on the farm, and it has taken twice as long to get this big.

Also, I really think that he was affected by not being able to eat and drink freely/easily at a young age. He definitely has OCD. I know cats are in general, but he is very persistent! Especially when it comes to jumping on the counter.

In any event, the biggest news is that due to family emergency, our vet had to reschedule Zorro's surgery. It is now another week away on Tues. Nov. 16.
This only leaves one week of recovery before Thanksgiving, so we might have to have a small Turkey Day celebration in our shoe box apartment with our little delicate boy. I've always wanted one of those 'Felicity' type of Thanksgivings anyways.

I have to say it makes me a bit nervous that he has to go another week. He's been having trouble with his food lately, choking and sneezing more frequently. He has gotten so strong compared to how sick he was not too long ago, though so I'm sure he will be fine, it's only a week.

Big news is that we only need $35.00 to reach our goal!. Donations have slowed down, which is understandable thanks to all of you lovely people who have donated! There are so many of you! Ashley and I have an extra week of tips we can add into the Zorro Jackson/Kitty Cat Fund as my G-ma Alice calls it. We make a small amount of tips as baristas at a local cafe, but it has added up throughout these past few weeks!
It would be great if we could reach our goal, but I'm so grateful that we have gotten so amazingly close no matter what the outcome. Thank you all so much.

oh.. hey, i'm still sick. check my story out in posts below!!!

On a bright note: Joss Parry, Steph Byers & Jamie Morgan, Callie Raymond & Justin Upton have all gave us some donations for little Z' in the past two days!! <3

Ash is in the process of making LOTS of cds & also in the process of making a thank-you card to send to all of our friends & our vets.

Another video of him drinking from his water bottle...

It's hard to catch him on video because he gets too distracted.... 

A new video of him drinking from his water bottle, much better lighting this time. 

In case you haven't heard, we taught him to drink from a rabbit feeder the day after we learned he had a cleft palate. I had a rabbit as a child and thought it could help. Because his head & neck are elevated he doesn't choke on his water anymore! He has been gaining weight steadily since he has learned this and is no longer obsessed with water.Although, he still has trouble with his food even though we have tried elevating it. Of course it doesn't help that he likes to play with his food and knocks it down all the time. 

You can read more about him learning to drink from the bottle in one of the first posts of this blog. :)

It's official surgery is only 1 week away!

Lil' Z-boy's surgery is officially only one week away and we are now even closer to our goal! We received $45 in donations via snail mail today which takes us to $365 total! The surgery will cost around $500-$550 so let's amp up the fundraising for the final week! We have a larger undetermined goal that will depend on what his follow-up appointments will cost, but we will worry about that later! I am so shocked by everyone's love and support, I just can't believe you are all making this happen! Thank you all so much!

& Don't forget to spread the word! We have received several donations from people we don't even know so it definitely helps when others post a link to this blog on your facebook/myspace/twitter/anyothernetworkingsitethatidon'tknowabout. 

As for Zorro, he is still getting strong for his surgery. He has had some intestinal (fun) issues, and after research we think it could be an allergy to grain in his food. Grain is not a normal part of a feline's diet but is in all commercial pet food as a source of protein (instead of meat). Basically this means that on top of everything else, he now must have the best and most expensive food as well. Right now we are trying Before Grain(B.G) and it seems to be working. 

Of course after surgery he will only be able to eat wet food for 2 weeks. Not only will they be spoiled on canned food, but the BEST canned wet food money can apparently buy. B.G. also makes canned food that is 100% meat so we will try that first. It is ridiculously expensive but what can ya do right, he needs it! 

The morale of the story is that this is one very speciialllll kitty who has very special needs! I just can't wait until he can eat and drink without choking, it breaks my heart every time. I am really happy that we scheduled his surgery early because now that his long lasting antibiotic is running out he is sneezing a lot and has what I like to call 'goopies' in his eyes and nose again. I just keep telling him he only has to make it one more week, just one more week!!

People can be so amazing..and a donation update!!

For anyone with a pet in the Lancaster/Millersville area, take them to River Hills Veterinary Hospital in Conestoga, PA (3 mi. from Millersville). And if you're outside of the area and not happy with your Vet, she is worth the drive. Not only will you're furry loved one leave happy, but you will as well. Brenda DeLuca  is an amazing Vet, and a wonderful person. I learned this during my first visit with her for our semi-feral cat Prudence, but even more so now with lil Zorro. It has been a long road to recovery for him, not that we are there yet, but she has been there to help every step of the way, and has gone out of her way to help us get him treated at a reasonable price.
Among all of the amazing things she has done while treating him these past few months, she really amazed me today when she stopped by the local cafe that I work at. She immediately had a huge smile and asked how Zorro was doing. Her and the Vet she recommended me to (Chris Runnels of Lititz Vet Hospital) have kept in contact with one another and updated each other on his status (how adorable, right? Can't get much better care than that...or so I thought..) She can't believe how well he is doing and how much better he looks. She even told me that the new Vet can't fully understand what a miracle it is that he has made it this far, compared to how bad a shape he was in even just a month ago, let alone when she first saw him in July.
After chatting for a bit and making her a latte, she wondered when the surgery was. I told her it was just a little over a week away and then she told me she wanted to donate to help us. We are supposed to be paying her, not the other way around! How amazing, absolutely and truly amazing! I told her that I couldn't accept it after all she has done for us so far, but she wouldn't have it. She ended up donating $60 for the little guy, and we couldn't be more grateful.  No matter how disappointing people may be sometimes, it's always great to be reminded just how amazing and selfless people can be as well. I am still shocked hours later that she was willing to do this for us. She deserves all the thanks she can get and I would love if people could send thank you's to her for us as well. On behalf of Zorro....
Brenda DeLuca VMD
River Hills Veterinary Hospital
3161 Main Street
Conestoga, PA 17516

Her gracious and thoughtful donation brings us to $270 in total donations. That means we are half-way to our goal with a little over a week to go! Once again we are so grateful for your willingness to give and your selfless love for animals. Little Zorro wouldn't survive without this surgery so all of you have had a hand in saving his life. We (and he) will be forever grateful. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. For those of you who haven't, please consider helping us to achieve our goal, and for those of you that have, please spread the word and love around. We are sooooo very close to meeting our goal, and every little bit counts whether it's $1 or in this case $60. Thank you everyone! : )

Surgery

The appointment has been set. Monday November 8th. 
It'll take two week for little Z to recover (before the holiday) but he'll be spoiled with wet food.
& he'll be 'stoned'* when we get him back. :\


We were told to schedule early because for some reason animal emergencies pick up in the winter.


& obviously the more time we wait the more chance he has of catching pneumonia or having complications with the hole on the top of his mouth.






*Veterinarian's exact terminology. 

Donation update...

We ( Ashley Bagdonas and I) have the absolute best friends, family, and friends of family. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, or just passed the info along. We do have a ways to go but we have raised $90 total to date. $40 in online donations and $50 by mail. We are almost a fifth of the way there in only a couple of days. It would be great to raise enough money to get the surgery done within a couple weeks! With each sniffle, sneeze, and cough my heart drops, but we just keep telling him to stay strong and healthy for now because I know with everyone's support we will be able to pull it off for him. Thanks again for your support and keep checking out this blog for updates on the little man who is currently snuggling on my chest as I write this :)

Who even knew cats could have a cleft palate?

I had never even heard of this happening in cats. I was so shocked when the vet showed me what the problem was. When I came home I was even more shocked to find that there wasn't much information out there about cats with cleft palates. I came across a couple of cases where surgeons volunteered to do the surgery normally done on humans, a couple people asking what to do with their kitten that they discovered had a cleft palate, and a few other very vague sites with brief information, but that was it. It was even more dis-heartening to read that in most cases these kittens do not survive, and if they do, they are usually euthanized at a young age. I read that in cases where they do survive their first year, it's just a matter of time before they develop aspiration pneumonia.

I continued to read things like, if they do survive, most tend to be very small and lethargic for the most part. Seven year old kittens who only weigh 5 or 6 lbs. and sleep all day. I know cats love to sleep, but I also know they love to play, and that isn't much of a life for anyone or anything. Before we taught Zorro to drink from the bottle I could see what kind of life he would live. He was very lethargic, he slept in what we called "Boys Club" for most of the day (Boy's club is behind the sofa where he would go to get away from all of the girls, Ash, Prudence, and I, and also I think to escape the noise). He would eat, drink, choke, and then slowly mosey on over to Boy's Club where he would be the rest of the day.

Now that he has gained some weight and is a little healthier he only goes in Boys Club to hide from Prudence for a couple of seconds before running after her when she's least expecting it. When he wants to sleep these days (usually around the nooner after he and Prudence have run around chasing each other all morning driving his moms crazy) he usually goes up to Ash or I and meows, signaling it's snuggle/nap time, at which time he kneads his way to sleep on our face and neck while being held like a baby. ;)

For now it seems hard enough just to raise the money for one surgery alone, but if for some reason this blog/fundraiser takes off, it would be great to raise awareness and give money back so other people have the opportunity to get the surgery done on their little ones as well. I can't imagine all of the loving pets lost to this developmental deformity because there is no information out there about it, or no help with the high cost of surgery. In the least I would like to give money to the Lititz Veterinary Clinic for their graciousness through all of this, in hopes that they might be able to help local animals that otherwise might not have been able to be saved.

Sleeping in the sink...

We think because it was so hard to drink 
he became obsessed with water! 
He ran to the shower & sink whenever it was on.

Some of Zorro's activities

Snuggling, Playing with my jimmy-jangle toy, chasing Prudence, scratching Sarah & Ashley's record collection, Sticking my head in cups, watching the TV, helping play Galaga, looking for trouble, kitty Parkour.

Helping count change

The object of Zorro's affection & INFLICTION: Prudence!!!

Worn out & resting in Kitty City..

The epic story....

A small litter of kittens were born at the beginning of my summer internship on an organic farm. As you all know, multiple barns welcome the opportunity for lots of barn cats. Being an animal lover I of course fell in love with them all but this little guy really stole my heart. I really wanted to bring him home, but my conscious and my roommate didn't think we had the space, time, or money to raise another kitten. Yes, another, kitten. We already have one, a rather feral one that I saved during my junior year in college.

Anywho I had given up the idea of taking him home until I noticed him getting sick. The first day I noticed it I didn't really say much because I didn't want my bosses and my fellow co-workers to think I was a crazy cat lady. I had already been deemed "horse-whisperer" by one of them, and that was enough. The next day though, he had gotten much much worse, he wasn't eating or drinking, not even flinching for a can of smelly tuna. At this point I knew something was wrong and decided that he needed to go to the vet. I was really the only one capable of doing this, even though I really couldn't afford it I knew he would die if he didn't get some help. 

He had a serious upper respiratory infection, and after lots of liquid antibiotics and some tender love and care he started to eat and drink again. Even so, he wasn't gaining much weight and I noticed that he would still cough and choke when he ate and drank, so we took him back to the vet. At this point he wasn't even half the size of his brothers that were still on the farm, his coat was rough and messy; he looked really pathetic, and for a lack of words, half-dead. This is when the vet noticed his cleft palate, and the most serious case of ear infections that she had ever seen. She was shocked; she had never seen a hole like this so far back in the roof of the mouth and so far off to the side. She gave the bad news that without surgery, he would one day get aspiration pneumonia, at which point there would be nothing we could do to save him. She referred us to another vet for a consultation, and started treating the ear infections, which would take weeks. 

After thinking about it all night, I came up with the idea of the rabbit feeder. Like I said, I had a rabbit as a kid and I knew that his head needed to be elevated in order to not choke on his food and water. The next day, a Saturday, Ashley and I would take turns taking him to the feeder, playing with the little ball so the water would come out, and putting the water to his lips so he would understand what it was. By Saturday night, he had it down. He drank nearly the whole bottle that first time. 

Our new vet, Dr. Chris Runnels of the Lititz Vet Hospital was nice enough to wave our $118 consultation fee because he was a rescue, and because she fell in love with him in the first minute she was checking him out. He really is something, all sprawled out on the vet's table...purring, who couldn't love him?!?!? To make this very long story short at the end, she is going to do the surgery with some very generous breaks included. She is cutting the costs that she can and neutering him at the same time so we don't have to pay for anesthesia twice (most exspensive cost).

We are hoping to get the surgery done well before the holidays because he will need 2 weeks of recovery in which he will be fed a feast of wet food only. I know those two weeks will be the happiest of Prudence Sunshine's(the other feral cat) life. 

I never thought that this sort of thing would actually work, I just posted it on facebook with a "what the hell" kind of attitude. We had already planned on paying for the surgery, no matter how much we had to scrimp and save and give up for ourselves. I may be a crazy cat lady but little Zorro is really something else, and he deserves a long and happy life with us, and we can't picture it without him now. I know that while Prudence growled at him in the beginning when he was just a sick little rat fink boy, she loves playing tag and chasing him around now. With surgery, I imagine they will one day be boyfriend and girlfriend, and Prudence would surely miss him if he did't make it. And if you don't know Prudence you should know that her liking anyone or anything is a miracle! Thanks for looking, Zorro appreciates the attention! Ashley and I appreciate it more than you could know. We have great friends and family to support us and our furry little ones!

Zorro learns how to drink from a rabbit feeder because of his cleft palate.

Zorro was half the size before we taught him to drink from a rabbit feeder. I had a rabbit as a kid and thought it might work because he could keep his head elevated in order for the water to slide right down his throat. When drinking from a regular dish he would choke because the water would go right up the hole in the roof of his mouth and come out his nose. It was really sad to watch. He could never get enough to drink and became obsessed with water. If you ran water in the bathroom he would sprint to it and jump in the sink, he would get in the shower with each of us, try to get in the toilet...everything! The first time he learned to drink from the bottle he drank nearly the entire thing, and since that very first time, he hasn't been obsessed with water at all. Okay, he still sleeps in the sink, but he doesn't go after the water, he just likes it. :) He gained over 2 lbs. in 3 weeks after teaching him this. Truly amazing to watch his transformation.